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'Ss« 


Kpochs  of  AnciExNT  His' 


roRY 


EDITRD   Bv 


REV.  G.  W.  COX,  M.A.  and  CHARLES  bANKEY,  M. 


EARLY  ROME 
W.  IHNE 


EPOCHS   OF   ANCIENT    HISTORY. 

Edited  by  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox  and  Charles  Saxkev,  M.  A. 
Eleven  volumes,  i6mo,  with  41  Maps  and  Flans.  Price  per 
vol.,  $1.00.    The  set,  Roxburgh  style,  gilt  lop,  in  box,  $11.00. 

Troy— Its   Legend,    History,  and  Litlrature.     By  S.  G.  W. 

Benjamin 
The  Greeks  and  the  Persians.     By  G.  W.  Cox. 
The  Athenian  Empire.     By  G.  VV.  Cox.        ^,      ,      _     , 
The  Spartan  and  Theban  Supremacies.     By  Charles  Sankey. 
The  Macedonian  Ewfike.     By  A.  M.  Curteis. 
Early  Rome.     By  W.  Ihne. 
Pome  and  Carthage.     By  R.  Bosworth  Smith. 
The  Gpacchi,  Marius,  and  Sulla.     By  A.  H.  Beesley. 
The  Roman  Triumvirates.     By  Charles  Menvale. 
The  Earl>  Empire.     By  W.  Wolfe  Capes. 
The  Age  of  the  Antonines.     By  W.  Wolfe  Capes. 

EPOCHS   OF    MODERN    HISTORY. 

Edited  by  Edward  E.  Morris.  Eighteen  volumes,  iCmo, 
with  77  Maps,  Plans,  and  fables.  Price  per  vol.,  $1.00 
The  set,  Roxburgh  style,  gilt  top,  in  box,  $18.00. 

The  Beginning  of  the  Middle  Ages.     By  R.  W.  Church. 

The  Normans  in  Europe.     By  A.  H.  Johnson. 

The  Crusades     By  G.  W.  Cox.  ^ 

The  Early  Plantagenets.     By  \Vm.  Stubbs. 

Edward  III.     By  W.  Warburton. 

The  Houses  of  Lancaster  and  York.     By  James  Gairdner. 

The  Era  of  the  Protestant  Revolution.     By  Frederic  Seebohnf.. 

Th.-.  Early  Tudors.     By  C.  E.  Moberly. 

The  Age  of  Elizabeth.     By  M.  Creighton. 

The  Thirty  Years  War,  1618-1648.     By  S.  R.  Gardiner. 

The  Puritan  Revolution.     By  S.  R.  Gardmer. 

The  Fall  of  the  Stuarts.     By  Edward  Hale. 

The  English  Restoration  and  Louis  XIV.     By  Osmond  Airy. 

The  Age  of  Anne.     By  Edward  K.  Monis. 

The  Early  Hanoverians.     Bv  Edward  E.  Morris. 

Frederick  the  Great.     By  F.  W.  Longman. 

The  French  Revolution  and  First  Empire.  By  W.  G'Cfiwo* 
Morris.     Appendix  by  Andrew  D.  White. 

Thf  Epoch  of  Reform.  1830-1850.     By  Justin  Macarthv 


EARLY  ROME 

OM  THE  FOUNDATION  OF  THE  CITY  TO 
ITS  DESTRUCTION  BY  THE  GAULS 

BV 

W.  IHNE,  Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR   AT   THE  UNIVERSITY   OF   HEIDELBERG 
AUTHOR  OF  "THE  HISTORY  OF  ROME" 


^A^ITH   A   MAP 


NEW  YORK: 

CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S   SONS, 

1S98. 


Who  list  the  Roman  greatness  forth  to  figure, 
Him  needeth  not  to  seek  for  usage  right 
Of  line,  or  lead,  or  rule,  or  square  to  measure 
Her  length,  her  breadth,  her  deepness  and  her  hight ; 
But  him  behoves  to  view  in  compass  round 
All  that  the  Ocean  grasps  in  his  long  arms. 
Be  it  where  th'  yearly  star  doth  scorch  the  ground, 
Or  where  cold  Boreas  blows  his  bitter  storms. 
Rome  was  th'  whole  world  and  all  the  world  was  Rome ; 
And  if  things  named  their  names  do  equalize, 
When  land  and  sea  you  name,  then  name  ye  Rome, 
And  naming  Rome  ye  land  and  sea  comprize  I 
For  th"  ancient  plot  of  Rome  displayed  plain 
The  map  of  all  the  wide  world  doth  contain. 

All  that  which  Egypt  whilom  did  devise. 
All  that  which  Greece  their  temples  to  embrave 
After  th'  lonick,  Attick,  Dorick  guise. 
Or  Corinth,  skilled  in  curious  work  to  grave ; 
All  that  Lysippus'  practick  art  could  form, 
Apelles'  wit,  or  Phidias  his  skill. 
Was  wont  this  ancient  city  to  adorn. 
And  heaven  itself  with  her  wide  wonders  fill : 
All  that  which  Athens  ever  brought  forth  wise 
Or  that  which  Africk  ever  brought  forth  strange, 
All  that  which  Asia  ever  had  of  prise. 
Was  here  to  see.     O  marvellous  great  change ! 
Rome  living  was  the  world's  sole  ornament. 
And  dead,  is  now  the  world's  sole  moniment ! 

Spenser,  Rums  of  Rome. 


PREFACE, 


Historical  criticism  has  now  for  more  than  half  a 
century  been  actively  at  work  upon  the  history  of 
Rome,  and  the  tests  which,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  evidence,  it  has  applied  to  the  traditional 
narrative,  have  shown  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
tales  which  have  passed  for  more  than  two  thousand 
years  as  the  history  of  the  Roman  kings  and  of  the 
earlier  ages  of  the  republic,  contain  but  a  small  por- 
tion of  truth  hidden  under  a  huge  mass  of  fiction. 
The  results  of  scientific  investigation  have  gradually 
been  accepted  by  all  scholars  whose  judgment  is  not 
perverted  by  an  obstinate  historical  conservatism 
very  much  akin  to  superstition ;  and  the  present 
volume  is  an  attempt  to  give  these  results  in  a  form 
intelligible  to  any  reader  of  common  capacity,  and 
possessed  of  so  much  previous  knowledge  as  can  be 
acquired,  or  ought  to  be  acquired,  at  an  average 
school    before    the    age    of  fifteen  or  sixteen.     All 


viii  Preface. 

purely  scientific  matter  has  been  excluded.  The  re- 
sults have  been  given  with  only  so  much  of  argument 
and  proof  as  is  absolutely  necessary  to  carry  convic- 
tion. All  scientific  references  and  notes  have  been 
excluded.  Yet  no  statement  has  been  made  which 
could  not  be  substantiated  by  reference  to  the  origi- 
nal authors  from  whom  all  our  information  is  de- 
rived. It  is  hoped  that  those  readers  who  are 
attracted  by  the  subject,  and  wish  to  carry  their 
studies  further,  will  be  able  to  use  the  present  volume 
as  a  starting  point  for  investigations  of  their  own. 

^  W.  IHNE. 


Felseck,  Heidelberg: 
September  /2, 187s  > 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE  CAUSES   OF   THE   GREATNESS   OF  ROME 


The  greatness  of  the  Roman  empire,  . 

Its  influence  on  modern  civilization, 

The  Roman  law, 

Political  wisdom  of  the  Roman  people, 

Value  of  the  history  of  Rome, 

The  small  beginning  of  Rome, 

The  advantage  of  Rome  over  other  Italian  cities, 

Geographical  situation, 

Race,      ..... 

Men  of  genius, 

The  site  of  Rome, 

Proximity  of  the  seven  hills  to  each  other. 

Political  association, 

Secondary  causes,    . 


PAGE 

I 

I 


CHAPTER  II. 


SOURCES  OF  THE   HISTORY  OF  ROME. 


The  meaning  of  history. 

Character  of  early  history, 

The  credulity  of  the  old  historians, 

Origin  of  historical  criticism, 

Niebuhr, 

Niebuhr's  influence, 

Sir  G.  C.  Lewis, 


IX 


Contents. 


Line  of  demarcation  between  fable  and  history- 
Tests  of  historical  truth, 
Contemporary  evidence, 
Second-hand  evidence, 
Tradition,     . 

The  oldest  Roman  annalists 
Fabius  Pictor, 
Cincius  Alimentus, 
Porcius  Cato, 
Later  annalists, 
Historical  poems,     . 
Sources  of  the  annalists, 
Scarcity  of  fiction  pure  and  simple 
Existence  of  a  traditional  story  before  Fabius, 
Non-existence  of  a  national  epos, 
Oral  tradition,    ..... 
Importance  of  the  knowledge  of  precedents  and  customary 
The  senate  as  conservator  of  the  memory  of  the  past 
The  sacerdotal  corporations, 
Probability  of  a  pontifical  narrative. 
Oral  tradition  alone  insufficient  to  account  for  the  detail 

the  annals,  ..... 

The  pontifical  or  great  annals, 
Age  of  the  pontifical  annals. 
Other  public  documents,     . 
Laws  and  treaties. 
Laws  of  the  twelve  tables,  . 
Apocryphal  laws  of  the  kings,     - 
Legendary  relics,     .... 
Public  monuments. 

Fixity  and  continuity  of  the  Roman  f.xmilies 
Their  aristocratic  spirit  and  pride. 
Family  portraits,      .... 
Solemn  funerals, 

Funeral  orations,      .... 
Written  laudations,        .  .  .  . 

Family  chronicles,    .... 


PAGE 
12 


law: 


of 


Contents. 


XI 


Their  antiquity,  ...... 

And  character,  ...... 

General  character  of  the  earliest  annals, 
Family  traditions  confined  to  the  republican  period, 
Different  treatment  of  the  regal  and  the  republican  period  in 
the  annals,         ...... 

Reasons  for  noticing  the  legends  of  the  kings, 


PAGE 

28 
29 
29 

3" 

30 
31 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   LEGENDS   OF  THE   SEVEN    KINGS   OF   ROME 

The  legend  of  Aeneas  the  Trojan,  . 
Birth  of  Romulus  and  Remus, 
Dispute  between  Romulus  and  Remus, 
Building  of  Rome  by  Romulus, 
Death  of  Remus,     . 
The  asylum  of  Romulus, 
Rape  of  the  Sabines, 
Tarpeia, 

War  of  the  Romans  and  Sabines,   . 
Meitius  Curtius, 

Union  of  the  Romans  and  Sabines, 
The  laws  of  Romulus,  . 
Death  of  Romulus, 
The  first  interregnum, 
Numa  Pompilius,  the  second  king, 
His  sacred  laws, 
-His  civil  laws, 
The  peace  of  Numa, 
Tullus  Hostilius,  the  third  king,     . 
War  with  Alba, 
The  Horatii  and  Curiatii,    . 
Crime  of  Horatius, 
Treason  of  Mettius, 
Destruction  of  Alba,     . 
Tullus's  wickedness  and  death, 
Ancus  Marcius,  the  fourth  king, 


Contents. 


War  with  the  Latins,  .... 

Lucumo  of  Tarquinii,    . 
Lucius  Tarquinius,  the  fifth  king,  . 
Wars  with  the  Latins  and  Sabines, 
■>*J'he  reforms  of  Tarquinius, 

Temple  of  Jupiter  on  the  Capitol, 

The  great  sewer,  forum,  and  circus. 

Miraculous  birth  of  Servius  Tullius,     . 

Servius  Tullius,  the  sixth  king, 

The  centuriate  assembly  of  the  people, 

Murder  of  King  Servius,     .... 

Lucius  Tarquinius,  the  seventh  king,  . 

Conquest  of  Gabii,  .... 

Establishment  of  Roman  power  over  Latium, 

Purchase  of  the  Sibylline  books,     . 

Message  to  Delphi,         .... 

Outrage  of  Sextus  on  Lucretia, 

Expulsion  of  the  king  and  establishment  of  the  republic 

Conspiracy  for  the  restoration  of  the  king, 

The  patriotism  of  Brutus, 

Banishment  of  the  house  of  the  Tarquinii, 

War  with  Tarquinii  and  Veii,  . 

War  with  Porsenna  of  Clusium,     . 

Horatius  Codes,  .... 

Mucins  Scaevola,     ..... 

Cloelia,  ..... 

The  Etruscans  defeated  at  Aricia, 

Latin  war,  ..... 

Battle  of  Lake  Regillus,      .... 

CHAPTER  IV. 

EXAMINATION   OF   THE   LEGENDS    OF   THE 

Absence  of  contemporary  records. 

Rationalist  explanation  of  fables,     . 

Moral  impossibilities,     .... 

Chronological  impossibilities. 

Other  objections,  .... 


Contents. 


XI 11 


PAGE 

Omnipotent  lawgivers,         .....  7° 

Laws  and  religion  as  primeval  as  language,     .             .  .7° 

Aetiological  myths,  ......  7i 

The  rape  of  the  Sabines,            .            .             .            .  .72 

The  Lacus  Curtius,              .....  73 

Greek  stories,     .             .             •            •             .             •  .74 

The  legend  of  Romulus  not  of  Roman  origin,        .             .  75 

Meagreness  of  Roman  imagination,     .             .             .  .76 

Repetitions,                ...•••  7^ 

Identity  of  Romulus  and  Tullus,          .             .             .  -77 

Of  Numa  and  Ancus,            .             .             •             •             '  77 

Of  the  two  Tarquins,  Romulus  and  Tullus,     .             .  .78 

Servius  TuUius,         ...•••  78 
The  latter  part  of  the  history  of  the  kings  as  fabulous  as  the 

first,        .......  79 

The  miraculous  origin  of  the  Servian  constitution,      .  .       79 

Expulsion  of  Tarquinius  equally  miraculous,         .             .  80 

Incredibility  of  the  foreign  history,       .             .             .  .81 

The  war  of  Porsenna  resulted  in  the  subjugation  of  Rome,  81 

The  Latin  war  full  of  fictions,  .             .             .             .  -83 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  FIVE  PHASES   OF   THE   HISTORY  OF   ROME 

IN   THE   REGAL   PERIOD. 

Most  ancient  state  of  Latium, 

A  confederacy  under  Alba  as  head, 

Rome  a  Latin  settlement.     .... 

Invasion  of  Latium  by  Sabines, 

Alliance  of  Romans  and  Sabines,    . 

Alliance  developed  into  a  federal  state. 

The  sacerdotal  king  superseded  by  a  military  king, 

The  Etruscans,  .... 

Etruscan  dominion  in  Latium, 

Reforms  of  Tarquin  and  Servius, 

Effect  of  the  military  monarchy,     . 

The  revolution,  .... 

The  republic,  ..... 


XIV 


Contents. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN   THE   TIME  OF   THE   KINGS. 

TAGE 
Materials  for  a  sketch,  .  .  .  .  .  -92 

The  epic  poetry  of  Greece,  ....  92 

Conservative  spirit  of  the  Romans,       .  .  .  -93 

Great  antiquity  of  rehgious  institutions,     ...  94 

Supremacy  of  rehgion  in  the  East,       .  .  .  '94 

Every  rehgion  purely  national,         ....  94 

Hierarchical  character  of  civil  communities,  ,  .  -95 

Political  institutions  originally  religious,     ...  95 

The  religion  of  the  Romans,     .  .  .  .  .96 

Adoption  of  the  Greek  mythology,  ...  97 

Minute  religious  observances,  . 
Meaning  of  the  word  "  religion,"     . 
Religion  as  a  legal  system. 
Pontiffs  and  other  priests, 
Various  forms  of  divination. 
The  auspices, 
Abuse  of  the  auspices,  . 
Genuine  faith  of  the  old  time, 


99 
99 
100 
loi 
102 
103 
104 


CHAPTER   Vn. 

CHARACTER   OF  THE  MONARCHY. 

The  king  w^as  high  priest,  .... 

Inauguration  of  the  king,     ..... 

Mode  of  election,  .  .  .  .  • 

Criminal  judges  appointed  by  the  king, 

Military  commanders,   ..... 

Sacerdotal  kings  superseded  by  military  chiefs. 

Pontiffs  appointed  after  the  abolition  of  the  sacerdotal  royalty   107 


104 

105 
105 
105 
105 
106 


CHAPTER   VIII. 

THE  SENATE   OF  THE  REGAL   PERIOD. 

The  fathers  de  facto  representatives  of  the  great  houses,  .     109 

The  authority  of  the  fathers,             .             .             .  .110 

The  interregnum,           .             .             .             .             .  .110 

Conflict  between  the  senate  and  the  later  kings,    .  .           iii 


Contents 


XV 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE   PEOPLE   IN  THE   REGAL   PERIOD. 

^^The  people.     Patricians  and  plebeians, 
-Patrician  assembly  of  curiae, 
The  three  different  popular  assemblies, 
Rights  of  the  plebeians,         .... 
Origin  of  the  plebs. 

The  clients,  ..... 
The  military  kings  the  patrons  of  the  plebs, 

CHAPTER   X. 
THE   MAGISTRATES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC 

Change  in  the  executive, 

The  consular  office, 

Limited  in  time. 

Its  partition  among  two  colleagues. 

Right  of  intercession,     . 

The  dictatorship. 

Origin  of  the  dictatorship, 

Valerius  Poplicola, 

The  Valerian  laws, 

Duties  of  the  consular  office, 

Admmistration  of  justice. 

Private  jurisdiction. 

The  priests  public  servants, 

The  pontiffs  the  interpreters  of  divine  and  human  law 

And  the  guardians  of  science  and  learning 

The  augurs,  .... 


PAGE 
,      112 

112 

"3 
114 

115 

"5 

,     ii6 


117 

117 
11/ 
ii8 
ii8 
ii8 
119 
120 
120 
121 
122 
122 
122 
123 
124 
124 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   SENATE   OF   THE   REPUBLIC. 

The  senate  a  consultative  body,  ....     127 

Number  of  senators,  .  .  .  .  .127 

New  senators  added  after  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin  were  not 

plebeians,    .......     127 


XVI 


Contents. 


Nor  were  the  hew  members  plebeians  raised  to  the  rank   of 

patjicians,           ......  128 

The  senate  purely  patrician  and   champion  of  patrician  in- 
terests,        .......  129 

The  title  patres  conscript i,  .  .  .  .  .129 

Difference  of  the  senate  from  modern  parliamenis,     .             ,  130 

The  senate  not  a  representative  assembly,              .             .  130 

Mode  of  electing  senators,         .....  131 

Character  and  stability  of  the  senate,          .             .             .  131 

CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  POPULAR  ASSEMBLIES  OF   THE   REPUBLIC. 

The  proper  functions  of  the  popular  assemblies, 
The  comitia  curiata  superseded,      .... 
The  comitia  centuriata,  .... 

Military  character  of  the  comitia  centuriata, 
Functions  of  the  comitia,  .... 

Alleged  origin  of  the  comitia  curiata, 
Forms  observed  at  the  meetings  of  the  comitia  centuriata, 
Prevalence  of  patrician  power  m  the  state. 
Probable  origin  of  the  comitia  centuriata, 
The  assembly  of  centuries  ceases  to  be  military  and  becomes 
purely  political,       ..... 


132 
132 
133 
133 
134 
134 
136 
136 
138 

139 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE  TRIBUNES  OF  THE  PEOPLE, 

Secession  of  the  plebs. 

The  causes  of  the  secession, 

Original  power  of  the  tribune. 

Plebeian  aediles, 

The  sacred  law,         .... 

Antiquity  of  the  tribuneship,     . 

Control  of  the  conscription  by  the  tribunes, 

Number  of  tribunes. 

Original  mode  of  election. 


140 

.  141 

142 

.  142 

142 

•  143 

144 

•  144 

14s 

Contents.  xvii 

PAGE 

The  comma  curiata,      ......  145 

Division  ol  the  land  into  local  tribes,  .  .  .  146 

Plebeian  character  of  the  comitia  tributa,         .  .  .  146 

The  comitia  tributa  recognized  as  a  sovereign  assembly,  .  147 

Number  of  rocal  tribes,  .....  148 


CHAPTER   XIV. 

THE  AGRARIAN  LAW  OF   SPURIUS  CASSIUS. 

Wealth  and  poverty,     ......  148 

Disposal  of  conquered  land,             ....  149 

Rise  of  discontent  among  the  plebeians,           .            .             .  149 
The  agrarian  laws,    .             .             .             .             .             .150 

The  proposals  of  Spurius  Cassius,         ....  150 

CHAPTER   XV. 

THE  LEAGUE  WITH  THE  LATINS  AND  HERNICANS. 

Prevalence  of  confederations,    .....  151 

Rome  the  head  of  a  pre-historic  league,     .             .             .  152 

New  league  between  Rome  and  Latium,         .             .             ,  152 

Motives  for  concluding  the  league,             .             .             .  152 

Object  and  effect  of  the  league,             ....  153 

CHAPTER   XVI. 

THE  WARS   WITH   THE  VOLSCIANS  AND   AEQUIANS. 

The  story  of  Coriolanus,            .....  155 

Criticism  of  the  story  of  Coriolanus,         .             ,             .  158 

Effect  of  the  Volscian  wars,       .....  159 

The  story  of  Cincinnatus,  .....  159 

Exaggerations  of  the  story,       .....  161 

Character  of  the  Aequian  wars,    ....  163 


XVlll 


Contents. 


CHAPTER   XVII. 

WAR  WITH   THE   ETRUSCANS. 


The  Etruscan  town  of  Fidenae, 
Roman  fort  on  the  Cremera, 
Story  of  the  Fabii, 
Historical  foundation  of  the  story. 


PAGE 
.      162 

163 
.      163 

164 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 

THE   DECEMVIRS   AND   THE   LAWS    OF   THE   TWELVE    TABLES. 
451-442  B.C. 

The  Publilian  law,  .  .  .  .  .165 

Advancing  claims  of  the  plebeians,  .  .  .  166 

The  Terentilian  rogations,         .....     167 

The  Claudian  family,  .  .  .  .  .  168 

Concessions  to  the  plebs,  .....     168 

Election  of  decemvirs,         .....  169 

The  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  .  .  .  .169 

Perplexities  of  the  annalistic  accounts,      .  .  .  169 

Embassy  to  Athens,       ......     170 

Reasons  for  rejecting  the  stor}',     ....  170 

The  traditional  story  of  the  decemvirs,  .  .  -171 

Criticism  of  the  story,         .....  I74 

The  laws  of  the  last  two  tables,  ....     174 

Probable  causes  of  the  overthrow  of  the  decemvirs,         .  175 


CHAPTER    XIX. 

EXTENSION   OF   PLEBEIAN   RIGHTS    FROM   449  TO   390   B.C. 

Bearing  of  the  decemviral  legislation  on  public  and  private  laws  176 
Quaestors  elected  by  the  people,  ....  176 

Right  of  appeal  confirmed  and  extended,       .  .  .176 

Restoration  of  the  tribuneship  and  aedileship,      .  .  177 

Sovereignty  of  the  assembly  of  tribes  acknowledged.  .       I77 

Extension  of  the  legislative  and  elective  functions  of  the 

assembly  of  tribes,  .....       178 


Contents.  xix 

PAGE 

Gradual  abolition  of  patrician  privileges,               .             .  178 
Oanuleian  law  on  the  intermarriage  of  patricians  and  plebeians,  178 

Agitation  for  a  share  in  the  executive,       .             .             .  179 

The  office  of  military  tribunes  with  consular  power,               .  179 

Policy  of  the  patricians  to  make  the  laws  nugatory,         .  180 

Explanation  of  this  result,                     ....  181 

Spurius  Maelius,     ......  182 

The  censorship,             ......  183 

Duration  of  the  office  of  censors,  ....  184 

Extent  of  the  power  of  the  censors  in  drawing  up  the  list  of 

citizens,             ......  185 

Nomination  of  senators,           .....  186 

Revision  of  the  centuries  of  knights,         .             .             .  187 

The  censorship  of  morals,        .....  188 

Financial  duties  of  the  censors,     ....  188 

Limitation  of  the  censorship  to  eighteen  months,       .             .  188 

Doubling  of  the  number  of  quaestors,       .             .             .  189 

Plebeians  elected  to  the  office  of  military  tribunes,     .             .  189 


CHAPTER    XX. 

THE  FOREIGN   RELATIONS   OF   ROME   DOWN   TO  THE  CONQUEST 
OF  VEIL 

The  position  of  Rome  in  Latium,         ....  igo 

Condition  of  Latium,          .....  190 

Decay  of  the  Volscians  and  Aequians,            .             .            .  191 

Increased  preponderance  of  Rome,           .             ,             .  191 

Acquisition  of  the  territory  of  Corioli,             .             .             .  192 

Conquest  of  Labici,  Bolae,  and  other  towns  in  Latium,  192 

Conquest  of  Fidenae,  .....  193 

The  spolia  opima  of  Cornelius  Cossus,      .             .             .  193 

The  city  of  Veil,           ......  194 

Hostilities  between  Veil  and  Rome,          .             .             .  194 

New  military  organization  of  Camillus,           .             .             .  195 

The  Roman  armies,             .....  196 

Introduction  of  military  pay,  .            .            ,            ,            .  197 


Contents. 


Siege  of  Veil, 

Miraculous  capture  of  Veii, 
Criticism  of  the  story, 


PAGE 
197 
198 
199 


CHAPTER    XXI. 
THE   INVASION   OF   THE   GAULS, 

Decline  of  Etruscan  power,     . 

Migration  of  the  Gauls,     . 

Their  invasion  of  Etruria, 

Cause  of  war  with  Rome,  . 

Battle  of  the  AUia, 

Rome  abandoned, 

Defence  of  the  Capitol, 

Camillus  appointed  dictator, 

The  Capitol  saved  by  M.  Manlius, 

Ransom  paid  to  the  Gauls, 

Expulsion  of  the  Gauls, 

Criticism  of  the  story,         .... 

The  destruction  of  Rome  less  complete  than  reported, 

Long  duration  of  the  blockade  improbable, 

The  story  of  Camillus,  .... 

Contradicted  by  Polybius, 

The  story  of  the  geese  an  aetiological  legend, 

Index,  ...... 


202 
202 
203 
203 
204 
205 
206 
207 
207 
207 
208 
208 
209 
210 
210 
211 
211 


MAP. 
Ancient  Latium  and  adjoining  districts, 


.     Frontispiece 


EARLY   ROME. 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE   CAUSES   OF   THE   GREATNESS   OF    ROME. 

The  Roman  Empire  in  the  early  ages  of  our  era  em- 
braced all  the  countries  round  the  Mediterranean  Sea, 
together  with  vast  tracts  north  of  the  Alps,  stretching  in 
one  direction  as  far  as  the  Danube,  and  even  beyond 
that  river  in  its  lovv^er  course,  and  in  another  as  far  as 
the  Atlantic  Ocean,  St,  George's  Channel,  the  Solway 
Frith,  and   the  North  Sea.     In    this    great    _, 

The  greatness 

empire  was  gathered  up  the  sum  total  that  of  the  Roman 
remained  of  the  religions,  laws,  customs,  Ian-  '"P"'^- 
guages,  letters,  arts,  and  sciences  of  all  the  nations  of 
antiquity  which  had  successively  held  sway  or  predomi- 
nance. It  was  the  appointed  task  of  the  Romans  to  col- 
lect the  product  of  all  this  mass  of  varied  national 
labour  as  a  common  treasure  of  mankind,  and  to  deliver 
it  over  to  the  ages  which  were  to  follow. 

When  after  the  lapse  of  centuries  Europe  gradually 
emerged  from  the  flood  of  barbarism  which  had  over- 
whelmed it,  and  new  nations  were  formed  out  of  the 
wreck  of  the  Roman  Empire,  it  was  the  trea-      ,     .  „ 

^  Its  influence 

sure  of  ancient  learning  saved  by   Rome      on  modem 

which  guided  the  first  steps  of  these  nations 

towards  new  forms  of  civilized  life.     The  language  and 


2  Early  Ro))ie.  CH.  I. 

literature  of  Rome  had  never  been  altogether  lust  and 
forgotten.  By  slow  degrees  the  tongue  of  Latium  was 
moulded  into  the  dialects  of  Italy,  Spain,  Portugal,  and 
France.  The  Christian  Church  pertinaciously  clung  to 
the  old  language  which  was  that  of  her  ritual  and  of  the 
Latin  Fathers.  The  city  of  Rome  had  become  the  seat 
of  the  successors  of  St.  Peter,  and  her  language  pene- 
trated wherever  Roman  Catholic  missionaries  preached 
the  Gospel  of  Christ.  It  became  the  vehicle  of  all  the 
learning  of  the  time,  the  language  of  diplomacy,  of  law 
and  government ;  finally,  of  education ;  and  in  the 
schools  and  universities  of  modern  Europe  the  whole 
world  of  Latin  literature  was  fostered  into  a  second  life, 
and  acquired  an  influence  on  the  public  mind  of  which 
every  living  man  still  in  some  way  or  other  feels  the 
effects.  But  the  Latin  literature,  though  great  and  ad- 
mirable in  many  respects,  is  not  the  grandest  product  of 
the  Roman  mind.  It  was  not  original  nor  spontaneous, 
and  consequently  not  truly  national.  In  poetry,  philoso- 
phy, and  history  the  Romans  were  the  disciples  and 
imitators  of  the  Greeks.  They  added  little  of  their 
own.  Their  strength  and  originality  lay  in  another 
direction.     They  proved  themselves  masters  in  the  art 

of  civil  law  and  government.  The  Roman 
law^  ^^'"^'^      1^^^  possesses  an  intrinsic  excellence  which 

has  made  it  the  foundation  of  all  legal  study 
in  Europe,  and  the  model  of  almost  all  codes  of  civil 
law  now  in  force.  Every  one  of  us  is  benefited  directly 
or  indirecily  by  this  legacy  of  the  Roman  people,  a 
legacy  as  valuable  as  the  literary  and  artistic  models 
which  we  owe  to  the  great  writers  and  sculptors  of 
Greece, 

The  stupendous  growth  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and 
the  solidity  of  its   structure,  which  enabled  it  to  last  so 


CH.  I.      The  Causes  of  the  Greatness  of  Rome.  3 

long,  are  due  not  so  much  to  the  courage 
and  endurance  of  the  Roman  soldiers,  or  dom'of  thT^ 
to  the  genius  of  the  Roman  generals,  as  to  Roman  peo- 
other  causes,  and  chiefly  to  the  combination 
of  a  desire  for  improvement  with  respect  for  established 
rights  :  in  short,  to  political  wisdom,  which  prefers  reform 
to  revolution,  which  is  not  dazzled  by  speculation  on 
impossible  perfection,  and  which  never  sacrifices  what 
is  good  in  order  to  attain  what  may  appear  to  be  best. 
The  development  of  the  Roman  constitution  differs  in 
this  respect  from  the  usual  course  of  Greek  policy,  and 
reminds  us  of  the  spirit  in  which  the  English  constitu- 
tion was  built  up,  in  which  whatever  is  new  is  an  out- 
growth and  development  of  something  old,  and  in  which 
mere  speculation  and  theoretic  enthusiasm  have  never 
been  able  to  sever  the  link  which  connects  the  present 
with  the  past. 

The  history  of  the  Roman  people,  then,  has  surely 
many  claims  on  our  attention.  It  is  to  a 
certain  extent  the  history  of  every  modern  history°o/  ^ 
nation  in  its  earlier  stages,  and  it  contains  Ro"ie- 
lessons  of  policy,  which  even  after  so  many  centuries  are 
instructive  and  may  prove  applicable  in  the  political 
conflicts  of  the  present  day^ 

No  great  state  known  to  history  can  be  traced  to  such 
a   small  beginning   as  Rome.     When   the 

Ine  small 

kings  of  Persia  and  of  Macedon  built  up  beginning  of 
their  respective  monarchies,  they  worked  °™^' 
with  the  national  power  which  they  found  ready  for  them, 
waiting  only  to  be  organized  and  dit-ected.  The  Cartha- 
ginians started  on  their  career  of  enterprise  and  con- 
quest with  the  experience,  the  skill,  and  the  wealth  of 
their  Phoenician  mother  country.  The  Romans,  on  the 
other  hand,  when  they  emerged  to  power  hi  Latium  and 


4  Early  Rome.  CH.  I. 

Etruria,  could  boast  neither  of  a  numerous  nor  a  civilized 
ancestry  ;  they  had  found  no  accumulation  of  wealth 
ready  for  their  use,  no  political  experience  which  they 
might  have  applied.  They  had  everything  to  make 
from  the  beginning;  they  had  to  form  a  nation  and  a 
national  character,  to  create  national  wealth,  to  acquire 
political  experience.  They  succeeded  in  all  this,  and  so 
vigorous  was  the  spirit  which  animated  the  citizens  of 
that  single  city,  that  it  infused  itself  into  the  population 
of  all  Italy,  and  to  a  certain  extent  of  the  ancient  world, 
and  thus  the  language,  customs,  thought,  and  religion 
of  numerous  nations  were  Romanized,  and  exhibit  traces 
of  their  origin  even  at  the  present  day. 

What  was  the  cause,  we  may  well  ask,  that  gave  such 

a  superiority  to  Rome  over  other   cities  of 

t'agrofRo'me     Italy?     Why  did    not   Veii,   or   Naples,  or 

over  other         Syracuse   become  the   nucleus    of  a  great 

Italian  cities.  •'  ° 

empire  ?  Had  Rome  an  advantage  over 
them  with  regard  to  soil,  climate,  or  geographical  situa- 
tion ?  This  question  must  be  answered  in 
s^tuS!"'"^^  the  negative.  The  soil  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Rome  was  comparatively  sterile,  the  cli- 
mate unhealthy,  the  situation  unfavourable  for  com- 
merce. The  city  had  no  good  port,  nor  was  there  a 
large  fertile  country  behind  it  which  might  have  supplied 
materials  for  export  and  markets  for  foreign  goods. 

If  Rome  had  no  such  advantages,  was  it  to  any 
advantages  of  race  and  descent  that  she  owed  her  emi- 
nence ?  Again  we  must  answer  in  the  nega- 
tive. The  people  of  Rome  were  of  the  same 
race  as  their  neighbours.  They  could  boast  of  no  supe- 
riority on  the  score  of  descent.  For  a  long  time  indeed 
the  fable  of  the  descent  from  Aeneas  and  his  Trojan 
followers  had   currency.     This   fable   is   now  exploded, 


CH.  I.      The  Causes  of  the  Greatness  of  Rome.  5 

and  if  it  were  not,  we  should  hardly  infer  that  for  their 
political  and  military  greatness  the  Romans  were  in- 
debted to  Oriental  ancestors.  More  recently  an  admix- 
ture of  Etruscans  has  been  inferred  from  indications 
more  or  less  significant.  But  this  admixture  has  not  as 
yet  been  proved  by  any  satisfactory  evidence,  and  more- 
over the  political  and  religious  systems,  as  well  as  the 
language  of  the  Etruscans,  were  entirely  different  from 
those  of  the  Latin  or  other  neighbouring  tribes.  The 
Sabines  and  Latins,  who  combined  to  form  the  funda- 
mental element  of  the  Roman  people,  were  offshoots  of 
the  Sabellian  stock  to  which  all  the  native  or  aboriginal 
population  of  Italy  belong,  from  the  Apennines  south  of 
the  Po  to  the  extreme  end  of  the  peninsula. 

It  was  therefore  not  superiority  of  race  which  gave 
the  Romans  predominance  in  Italy.  We  must  look  for 
another  cause.     Perhaps  we  may  be  led  to 

,         .  ,  .  ^    Men  of  genius. 

surmise  that  it  was  a  fortunate  succession  of 
great  men  which  raised  the  Romans  above  the  other 
Italian  communities.  We  know  that  the  Persian,  the 
Macedonian,  the  Arab  empires  owed  their  rapid  rise  to 
the  genius  of  individuals.  In  modern  Europe  the  ag- 
grandizement of  Prussia  is  due  in  some  considerable, 
degree  to  the  eminent  political  and  military  qualities  of 
the  Hohenzollern  dynasty.  But  Rome  was  singularly 
sterile  in  great  men.  She  was  made  powerful  and  pre- 
dominant by  the  almost  unheeded  labour  of  a  vast  number 
of  citizens  of  average  ability,  not  by  men  whose  names 
have  the  ring  of  Solon,  Pericles,  Epaminondas,  or  Alex- 
ander; or,  if  we  compare  modern  times,  of  Charlemagne, 
Peter  the  Great,  Frederic,  or  Washington.  The  kings  and 
statesmen  to  whom  the  estabhshment  of  the  State  and 
the  laws  is  ascribed,  such  as  Romulus,  Numa,  Servius, 
and  Brutus,  belong  not  to  authentic  history,  but  to  pre 


6  Early  Rome.  CH.  i. 

historic  fable  ;  a)\d  when  politicians  arose  who  exerted 
an  influence  beyond  that  of  private  citizens  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  State,  men  who,  like  Sulla  and  Caesar, 
wielded  in  their  hands  the  power  of  the  whole  commu- 
nity, the  greatness  of  republican  Rome  had  passed  away. 
If  then  the  first  cause  of  Roman  greatness,  the  first 
impulse  given  to  national  development,  is  to  be  found 
neither  in  the  advantages  of  soil  and  situation,  nor  in  the 
superiority  of  race,  nor  in  the  genius  of  great  men,  shall 
we  be  driven  to  say  that  it  was  mere  chance,  or,  in  more  re- 
verent language,  Divine  providence  which  selected  Rome 
as  the  seat  of  empire  over  Italy  and  the  world  ?  Such 
a  conclusion  would  not  be  a  solution  of  the  problem,  but 
an  evasion  of  the  difficulty  and  a  confession  of  weak- 
ness unworthy  of  the  spirit  of  historical  enquiry.  Provi- 
dence does  not  act  contrary  but  according  to  fixed  laws, 
and  it  is  for  us  to  investigate  these  laws,  not  to  ignore 
them.  Nor  is  it  utterly  impossible  to  discover  the  cause 
to  which  Rome  owed  in  her  infancy  such  an  accession  of 
strength  as  secured  to  her  the  superiority  over  her 
neighbours,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation  of  her  future 
greatness. 

If  we  compare  the  site  of  Rome  with  the  sites  of  the 
numerous  cities  which  simultaneously  with  the  earliest 

settlements  on  the  seven  hills  covered  the 
Rome'^"*^        plain  of  Latium  and  the  adjoining  hills,  we 

find  that  each  of  the  other  towns  was  built 
on  some  steep  or  easily  defended  hill.  Some  of  these 
hill-towns,  such  as  Praeneste,  w^ere  actually  stronger 
than  either  the  Roman  Capitol  or  the  Palatine  hill.  But 
nowhere  do  we  find,  as  on  the  Tiber,  a  group  of  hills 
Proximit  of  possessing  each  the  advantage  of  defensi- 
the  seven  hills    bility,  and  yet  Iving  so  close  to  one  another 

to  each  other.       ,  ,  ',..',.,.  r  ^ 

that  the  political  isolation  of  each  was  im- 


(jB-  I.     The  Causes  of  the  Greatness  of  Rome.  7 

possible  and  that  some  kind  of  combination  or  federation 
for  the  maintenance  of  internal  peace  became  absolutely 
necessary.  People  who  live  at  a  distance  from  each 
other  may  indulge  in  occasional  strife  ;  but  if  by  prox- 
imity of  habitation  they  are  compelled  to  have  daily 
intercourse  with  one  another,  they  are  obliged  to  agree 
upon  some  terms  of  amicable  life,  if  they  do  not  prefer 
the  miseries  which  internecine  war  must  entail  on  all. 
This  was  the  condition  of  the  various  settlements  on  the 
seven  hills,  which  lay  so  near  together  that  nature  itself 
seemed  to  have  destined  them  to  form  a  combined  city. 
There  are  dim,  half  fabulous  traditions  which  speak  of 
wars  waged  between  the  people  of  the  Ouirinal  hill  and 
that  of  the  Palatine.  But  the  same  traditions  also  report 
an  amicable  settlement  of  the  combats,  an  agreement  to 
live  in  peace,  a  combined  government  of  the  respective 
chiefs ;  in  fact,  they  describe  a  confederation  of  the  two 
peoples,  and  their  combination  into  one  political  com- 
munity. Nor  are  these  facts  traceable  onlv  in  the  tra- 
ditions of  the  Roman  .people;  they  are  equal]  )  ii:  their 
institutions.  The  association  of  the  Romance,  ,  nouses) 
to  form  curicB  (wards),  and  of  these  to  form  *hp  three 
tribes  of  Ramnes,  Titles,  and  Luceres,  together  with 
other  indications  of  a  gradual  union  of  •  Impendent 
bodies  to  form  the  Roman  people,  show  clearly  en(.  .gh 
that  the  principle  of  association  lay  at  the  root  of  the 
early  vigour  of  Rome,  and  gave  to  the  combined  people 
of  the  Romans  and  the  Sabines  [^populus  Rotnanus  Qui- 
ritium)  such  a  preponderance  over  each  isolated  Latin 
city,  that  Rome  alone  became  fit  to  be  the  head  of  Latium. 
Thus  then  arose  a  spirit  of  political  association  based 
upon  calculations  of  interest  but  sanctioned  by  the  sense 
of  right ;  nor  when  it  had  accomplished  Political  asso 
its  first  task,  the  security  of  the  seven  hills,    ciation. 


8  Early  Rome.  CH   i. 

did  it  die  away,  but  continued  to  work  on  a  larger  scale 
when  Rome  had  become  great  City  after  city  and  tribe 
after  tribe  were  invited  or  compelled  to  join  the  leading 
power  as  allies  {socii)  until  the  whole  of  Italy,  though 
in  fact  subject  to  Rome,  appeared  to  be  only  one  vast 
confederacy. 

We  have  seen  that  the  geographical  position  of  Rome, 
and  the  peculiarity  of  race,  cannot  be  deemed  to  have 
been  the  first  causes  of  Roman  greatness.  Now,  how- 
ever, after  we  have  discovered  the  first  cause,  we  may 
and  must  admit  that  both  these  circumstances  power- 
Secondary  fully  contributed  as  secondary  causes  to  ac- 
causes.  cclcratc  and  consolidate  the  growth  of  Rome, 

when  it  had  taken  root  owing  to  the  peculiar  formation 
of  the  ground.  The  comparative  sterility  of  the  terri- 
tory encouraged  the  warlike  spirit  of  the  early  Romans, 
whose  frequent  wars  seem  to  have  been  undertaken  of- 
tener  for  the  sake  of  booty  than  in  just  self-defence.  It 
is  possible  too,  that  the  unhealthiness  of  the  surrounding 
district  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year  may  have  served 
as  a  barrier  to  ward  off  attacks,  when  other  resources 
failed.  The  remoteness  of  the  sea  and  the  want  of  a 
good  port  was  a  protection  from  the  numerous  pirates 
who  infested  the  Tyrrhenian  waters.  But  it  was  espe- 
cially the  situation  of  Rome  in  the  middle  of  the  penin- 
sula, cutting  off  the  northern  from  the  southern  half, 
which  enabled  her  to  divide  her  enemies  and  to  subdue 
them  separately.  Lastly,  the  similarity  of  race,  which 
bound  the  Romans  by  the  ties  of  blood  and  common 
customs  to  the  Latins  and  the  Samnites,  the  Campanians, 
Lucanians,  and  in  fact  to  all  the  indigenous  races  of 
Italy,  enabled  them  to  repel  the  invasions  of  their  non- 
Italian  enemies,  the  Gauls  and  the  Carthaginians,  and 
to  appear  in  the  light  of  champions    and  protectors   of 


CH.  11.        Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  9 

Italy.  When  in  the  time  of  the  first  historical  inroad  of 
the  Gauls  the  onset  of  these  barbarians  had  been  broken 
by  the  brave  defenders  of  the  Capitol,  Rome  rose  from 
her  ashes  as  by  a  second  birth  with  the  title  to  pre  emi- 
nence among  all  the  peoples  of  Italy ;  and  when  the  proud 
and  able  Hannibal  was  foiled  before  the  same  walls, 
Rome  in  a  still  more  signal  and  decisive  manner  fought 
at  the  head  of  the  Italians  against  the  common  foe. 


CHAPTER  II. 

SOURCES   OF   THE   HISTORY   OF   ROME. 

We  purpose,  in  the  present  volume,  to  trace  the  history 
of  Rome  through  its  earliest  stages,  from  the  foundation 
of  the  city  to  its  destruction  by  the  Gauls,  or,  The  meaning 
in  the  language  of  the  old  annalists,  from  of  "history." 
Romulus,  its  first  founder,  to  its  second  founder,  Camil- 
las. We  shall  have  to  review  a  period  of  nominally 
three  centuries  and  a  half,  a  period  as  long  as  that  which 
separates  us  from  the  Protestant  Reformation,  from 
Luther  and  Charles  V.  and  Henry  VIII.  It  is  the  pe- 
riod in  which  those  institutions  were  formed  which  proved 
the  strength  of  the  strongest  republic  of  all  ages.  It  is, 
therefore,  a  period  replete  with  interest  for  those  students 
of  history  who  desire  to  penetrate,  as  it  were,  into  the 
workshop  of  the  national  mind,  and  to  watch  its  opera- 
tions. And  yet  we  can  hardly  speak  of  a  history  of  this 
time,  except  in  so  far  as  we  attach  to  the  word  "  history" 
the  original  meaning  which  it  bore  in  the  Greek  lan- 
guage, and  which  is  synonymous  with  "investigation." 
History,  in  its  modern  sense,  not  only  endeavours  to  as- 
certain events   accurately,  but   also  to   show  how  each 


lo  Eaj'ly  Rome.  CH.  ii. 

successive  event  was  the  product  of  what  preceded  and 
the  cause  of  what  followed.  Such  a  concatenation  of 
cause  and  effect  is  possible  only  where  the  facts  can  be 
ascertained  not  only  with  certainty,  but  also  with  cir- 
cumstantiality. Where  these  conditions  do  not  exist,  in- 
quiry may  still  be  carried  on  with  profit  and  with  plea- 
sure ;  truth  may  be  elicited  and  errors  laid  bare ;  but 
the  full  delight  and  the  satisfaction  produced  by  genuine 
history  are  wanting. 

The  introductory  chapters  in  the  history  of  every  coun- 
try necessarily  consist  of  such  investigations.  They  are 
Character  of  the  dawn  preceding  the  day  ;  they  contain 
early  history,  truth  mixed  with  fablcs  in  every-varying 
proportions ;  they  are  often  more  perplexing  and  irrita- 
ting than  instructive  and  pleasing,  and  yet  we  must  make 
our  way  through  them,  for  as  every  succeeding  event 
can  only  be  understood  if  we  know  that  which  preceded 
and  prepared  it,  we  are  impelled  to  ascend  the  stream 
of  history  as  high  as  we  can,  even  if  the  source  itself 
should  be  hidden  and  inaccessible. 

The  ancient  historians,  and  the  modern  ones  too,  un- 
til quite  recently,  were  not  disturbed  by  any  doubts  con- 
The  creduiit  Corning  the  truth  of  the  early  chapters  of 
of  the  old  his-  the  history  of  Rome.  They  related,  with 
implicit  and  childlike  faith,  the  foundation 
of  the  city,  which  took  place,  they  say,  on  the  21st  of 
April  in  a  year  calculated  as  identical  with  the  second 
year  of  the  seventh  Olympiad,  or  754  years  before  the 
Christian  era.  They  related  the  wars  of  Romulus,  the 
legislation  of  Numa,  the  conquests  of  Tullus,  and,  in 
short,  the  deeds  of  all  the  kings  with  the  same  air  of  faith 
with  which  they  described  events  reported  by  eye-wit- 
nesses. It  is  true  they  were  occasionally  puzzled  by 
contradictions  in  the  narrative,  or  startled  by  some  down- 


CH.   II.        Sources  of  the  History  of  Ru/ne.  \  i 

right  incredible  statement ;  they  were  consequently  forced 
to  abandon  as  mere  ornaments  the  reported  miracles, 
but  they  never  doubted  that  what  remained  of  this  nar- 
rative was  substantially  true.  This  simple  faith  was  the 
delight  of  Cicero  and  Livy,  at-Dionysius  and  Plutarch, 
and  of  all  the  following  ages  down  almost  to  our  own. 
Neither  the  cautious  and  sober-minded  Bacon  nor  the 
learned  Milton  doubted  the  truth  of  a  story  hallowed  by 
the  implicit  faith  of  so  many  ages.  And  yet  the  revival 
of  learning  in  the  fifteenth  century  had  hardly  taken 
place  before  some  acute  and  bold  inquirers  began  in  a 
modest  and  tentative  way  to  point  out  errors  origin  of  histo- 
and  improbabilities  in  some  of  the  received  "^^^  cntiasm. 
accounts.  Yet  a  few  isolated  glimpses  of  light  left  the 
general  darkness  unbroken.  Even  the  more  compre- 
hensive view  of  the  unhistoric  character  of  the  early 
history  of  Rome,  which  was  taken  by  the  Italian  philo- 
sopher G.  Vico  (d.  1744)  produced  no  effect  upon  the 
general  convictions  of  historians.  Vico's  remarks  were 
still  unheeded  when  two  Frenchmen — Pouilly  in  1729, 
and  Beaufort  in  1738 — published  treatises  on  the  uncer- 
tainty of  the  first  five  centuries  of  Roman  history,  in 
which,  for  the  first  time,  a  series  of  doubts  was  not  only 
expressed,  but  supported  by  sound  arguments.  Yet  even 
Pouilly  and  Beaufort  seemed  to  have  found  no  followers. 
Neither  the  philosophic  jurist  Montesquieu  (d.  1755),  nor 
the  sceptic  historians  Hume  (d.  1776)  and  Gibbon  (d, 
1794),  seem  to  have  been  shaken  in  their  faith.  At  last, 
in  1811,  B.  G.  Niebuhr  published  the  first 
volume  of  a  learned  and  searching  criticism 
into  the  history  of  Rome,  in  which  he  showed  how  ut- 
terly untenable  the  stories  are  whrch  had  so  long  passed 
unchallenged  as  the  histor}^  of  the  Roman  kings  and  of 
the  first  ages  of  the  republic.     Niebuhr's  book  was  writ- 


i-2  Early  Rome.  ch.   ii. 

ten  at  the  right  time  The  minds  of  the  hterary  world 
were  prepared  to  receive  the  truth,  and  from  that  mo- 
ment to  the  present  the  critical,  that  is,  the  rational,  study 
of  Roman  history  has  gained  ground  more  and  more; 
every  year  has  added  contributions  to  our  knowledge  of 
Roman  institutions,  laws,  government,  antiquities,  and 
the  languages  of  ancient  Italy.  The  same  method  of 
critical  investigation  has  since  been  applied  to  the  his- 
tories of  Greece  and  other  nations;  and  though  Nie- 
buhr's  views  have,  in  many  respects,  been  modified  and 
rejected,  the  ante-Niebuhrian  mode  of  treating  history, 
and  especially  the  history  of  Rome,  has  been  abandoned 
by  the  unanimous  consent  of  modern  historians. 

When  Niebuhr's  book  first  appeared,  it  caused  amaze- 
ment and  not  a  little  regret,  that  such  a  number  of  sto- 
Niebuhr's  I'lGS,  endeared  like  household  words  to  our 

influence.  earliest  recollections,  should  be  rejected  as 

useless  and  idle  fancies.  This  feeling,  however,  which 
in  sterner  minds  assumed  even  the  character  of  indig- 
nation and  stubborn  conservatism,  has  almost  subsided. 
The  critical  method  has  so  far  gained  ground  that,  on 
the  whole,  Niebuhr  is  more  blamed  for  retaining  so  much 
of  the  old  faith  than  for  overturning  so  many  vain  idols. 
Sir  G  C.  The  most  advanced  in  this  line  of  criticism 

Lewis.  is  Sir  George  Cornewall  Lewis,  who,  in  his 

able  and  comprehensive  book  "on  the  Credibility  of 
Early  Roman  History,"  published  in  1855,  discussed  the 
question  in  all  its  bearings,  and  came  to  the  conclusion 
that  a  genuine  and  truthworthy  history  of  Rome  does 
not  begin  before  the  war  with  Pyrrhus  ;  that  is  to  say, 
the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century  after  the  foundation 
of  the  city. 

In  this  conclusion  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis  seems  to  have  gone 
too  far.     It  is,  of  course,  difficult  to  draw  the  exact  line 


CH.   II.       Sources  of  the  History  of  Rojne.  13 

which  divides  darkness  from  light  and  error  Line  of  demar- 
from  tiuth,  when  one  passes  into  the  other  ^^^1°"  ^^T-^^" 

'  ^  table  and  his- 

by  imperceptible  gradations.  Wherever  we  tory. 
may  draw  the  line,  some  truth  will  always  be  found  to 
be  mixed  up  with  error,  and  some  error  to  contain  par- 
ticles of  truth ;  and  in  proportion  as  men  are  severe  or 
lax  in  their  canons  of  criticism,  they  will  be  inclined  to 
limit  or  to  extend  the  legitimate  domain  of  history.  Af- 
ter all,  sufficient  data  remain  for  sketching  the  outline 
of  historical  events  from  the  beginning  of  the  republic, 
and  to  form  a  conception  of  the  condition  of  the  Roman 
people  even  in  the  age  of  the  kings. 

The  first  question  we  have  to  answer,    if  we  would 
judge  of  the  credibility  of  a  statement  claiming  to  be 
considered   historical,  is  not  whether  it   is 
probable   or   likely;   for  the   fictions    of  a    Tests  of  his- 

^  •'  toncal  truth. 

novel  or  poem  may  be  extremely  likely 
without  having  the  least  pretence  to  veracity.  We 
must  ask,  What  is  the  evidence  upon  which  the  state- 
ment rests  ?  Were  the  witnesses  able  and  were  they 
wilhng  to  tell  the  truth  ?  All  historical  narratives  must 
be  derived  from  contemporary  evid&nce, 
from  persons  who  have  heard  or  seen  what    Contemporary 

*^  evidence. 

they  report  and  who  do  not  purposely  cor- 
rupt, distort,  or  altogether  falsify  the  facts.  Inaccuracy, 
incompleteness,  faulty  apprehension,  we  must  expect 
and  excuse  even  in  the  best  of  witnesses,  for  experience 
shows  that  facts,  as  they  pass  through  the  observing  and 
reasoning  mind  of  witnesses  inevitably  assume  that  par- 
ticular form  and  colour  which  the  individuality  of  these 
witnesses  gives  to  them.  We  may  even  expect  contra- 
dictions as  to  detail,  degree,  and  manner.  In  partial 
and  passionate  witnesses  we  may  look  for  involuntary 
or  even  voluntary  misrepresentations.     All  such  diver- 


14  Early  Rome.  CH.   ii. 

gencies  in  the  statements  of  eye-witnesses  it  is  the  duty 
of  the  historian  to  weigh  against  each  other,  and  from 
their  combination  to  woric  out  the  truth. 

This  task  becomes  more  difficult  and  the  result  more 
precarious,    if  we    obtain    our   evidence    not   from   eye- 
witnesses, but  at  second-hand  from  persons 

Second-  ,  i  i  \ 

hand  evi-  who   report  not  what  they  have  seen  and 

*^^""'  heard,  but  what  has  been   related  to  them 

by  others.  All  the  causes  which  tend  to  distort  truth 
are  now  doubled,  or  more  than  doubled.  To  the  errors, 
wilful  or  involuntary,  of  the  original  witnesses  are  added 
those  of  the  secondary  witnesses,  and  the  errors  increase 
in  number  and  magnitude  the  further  our  witnesses  are 
removed  in  time  and  place  from  the  original  actors  of 
the  events  which  they  relate.  It  is,  indeed,  possible 
that  even  when  accounts  have  been  thus  transmitted 
through  a  line  of  successive  reporters,  they  may  still  in 
the  main  bear  some  resemblance -nay,  that  they  may 
give  the  substance  or  the  main  features  of  the  original 
facts.  In  such  a  case  we  have  before  us  a 
Tradition.  genuine  tradition,  which  is  available  for 
many  purposes  of  historical  study,  and  which  consti- 
tutes the  chief  portion  of  all  true  historical  knowledge 
possessed  by  any  people  before  history  begins  to  be  cul- 
tivated as  a  branch  of  literature.  But  it  is  evident  that 
very  little  trust  can  be  placed  in  the  detail  of  such  tradi- 
tions, and  that  perfect  accuracy  even  in  the  essential 
parts  can  hardly  be  expected. 

Let  us  now  see  what  degree  of  confidence  the  history 
of  the  regal  period  of  Rome  may  claim  on  the  score  of 
external  evidence. 

More  than  five  hundred  years  had  passed  since  the 
alleged  foundation  of  Rome  in  754,  before  the  first  rude 
and  feeble  attempts  were  made  by  a  Roman  to  write  a 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  15 

continuous  history  of  the  people  from   the 
earhest  ages.     Fabius  Pictor,  a  member  of         Romau^^* 
one  of  the  noblest  families,  himself  actively         annalists, 
engaged  in  the  military  and  civil  service  of  the  State, 
during  the  war  with  Hannibal,  wrote  a  his- 
tory of  his  time,  and  prefixed  to  it  by  wav  Fabius 

J         •  1  ■  \-  Pictor. 

of    mtroduction    a   short    narrative    of    the 
whole  preceding   period.     A    similar  work  was  under- 
taken by  Lucius  Cincius  Alimentus,  a  contem- 
porary  of    Fabius    Pictor.     Both   these  au-      Cincius  AH- 

,  .        ^       .  mentus. 

thors  wrote  not  m  Latm,  but  in  Greek, 
evidently  because  the  Latin  language  in  their  time 
seemed  not  sufficiently  cultivated  for  literary  composi- 
tion, and  because  they  had  before  their  eyes  as  models 
the  great  historians  of  Greece.  The  first  who  applied 
the  Latin  language  to  historical  composition 
was  Marcus  Porcius  Cato,  the  famous  censor,  Porcius 

Cato. 

who  as  a  young  man  had  served  in  the  war 
with  Hannibal,  and  died  shortly  before  the  final  destruc- 
tion of  Carthage"  (149  B.C.),  of  which  he  was  one  of  the 
chief  instigators.  Cato  may  be  looked  upon  as  the 
origioator  of  Latin  prose  writing  for  literary  purposes, 
and  it  is  curious  and  instructive  to  notice  that  the 
Romans  occupied  this  field  nearly  300  years  later  than 
the  Greeks.  Cato  wrote  the  history  of  his  time,  giving  a 
prominent  place  in  it  to  his  own  exploits,  and  even  to 
his  own  speeches,  and  he,  like  his  predecessors,  pre- 
fixed several  chapters  on  the  history  of  the  earlier  ages, 
including  therein  accounts  of  the  origin  of  other  Italian 
cities  besides  Rome,  whence  the  title  of  the  book, 
*'  Origines,"  was  derived. 

From  this  time  forward  we  find  a  conside- 
rable number  of  Roman  writers  engaged  in  annalists 
the  same  task.     The  most  prominent  among 


1 6  Early  Rome.  CH.  ll. 

diem  were  Lucius  Cassius  Hemina,  Lucius  Calpur- 
nius  Piso,  Valerius  Antias,  Ouintus  Claudius  Quadriga- 
rius,  and  Caius  Licinius  Macer,  reaching  from  the  time 
of  the  Punic  wars  to  the  age  of  Sulla.  Their  writings, 
like  those  of  their  predecessors,  are  lost ;  but  it  appears 
from  some  notices  in  extant  writers,  and  from  a  few 
remaining  fragments,  that  the  object  of  these  men  was 
more  to  compose  striking  and  entertaining  narratives, 
and  to  flatter  the  national  pride  of  their  countrymen, 
than  to  give  plain  and  faithful  accounts  of  the  events. 
They  endeavoured  to  distinguish  themselves  as  writers 
of  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  rival  their  Greek  models. 
In  this  endeavour,  it  must  be  admitted,  they  signally 
failed.  Though  they  preferred  not  only  rhetorical 
ritiurishes  to  simple  style,  but  also  fictitious  and  orna- 
mental detail  to  truth  gained  by  patient  research,  they 
are  looked  down  upon  by  Cicero  and  Tacitus  as  meagre 
and  frigid  chroniclers.  As  their  works  followed  one 
another,  they  grew  in  bulk  and  pretensions,  but  not  in 
trustworthiness.  Some  of  them,  in  the  time  of  civil 
commotions,  were  influenced  even  by  party  spirit.  This 
class  of  writers,  designated  by  the  common  name  of 
"annalists,"  supplied  the  extant  historians,  especially 
Livy  and  Dionysius,  with  the  materials  for  their  works. 
And  it  appears  that  unfortunately  Livy  followed  chiefly 
the  fuller  and  more  elaborate,  but  less  truthful  accounts 
of  the  younger  annalists,  especially  those  of  Valerius 
Antias,  the  least  conscientious  of  them  all. 

Whilst  the  annalists  set  themselves  the  task  of  simply 
recording  the  history  of  their  own  or  preceding  times, 
we  find  Yhat  contemporaneously  with  Fabius  and  Cincius, 
two  poets,    Naevius  and  Ennius,    moulded 
poems"'^^  the  same  materials  into  epic  poems.     Nae- 

vius (d.  204  B.C.)  wrote  the  history  of  the 


CH.  11.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  17 

first  Punic  war  in  the  old  Saturnian  verse,  the  national 
metre  of  the  Romans,  which  was  soon  superseded  by  the 
hexameter,  imported  from  Greece.  Ennius,  a  younger 
contemporary  of  Naevius  (d.  169  B.C.)  composed  a 
poem  in  hexameters  on  the  second  Punic  war.  Both 
poets  prefixed  to  the  account  of  their  own  time  the 
legendary  and  traditional  history  of  early  times  from 
Aeneas  downwards.  Of  these  poems  a  few  scanty  irag- 
ments  are  preserved,  from  which  we  can  gather  that 
their  authors  adopted  in  the  main  the  current  notions 
of  the  early  history  of  Rome,  and  that  they  adorned  the 
facts  according  to  the  exigencies  of  their  poetical  aims. 
But  it  seems  unlikely  that  they  had  access  to  any  other 
sources  of  information  than  the  annalists,  ana  therefore 
their  works  could  not  have  been  more  autnentic  and 
trustworthy  as  sources  of  the  history  of  Rome:  nor  does 
it  appear  that  any  either  of  the  annahsts  or  the  extant 
historians  looked  upon  them  or  cited  them  as  historical 
witnesses. 

In  so  far  as  the  annalists  and  annalistic  poets  related 
the   events   which   happened   in  their  own 
time  or  in  the  age  immediately  before  their   Sources  of  the 

.  ,  ,  annalists. 

own,  they  may  have  been  trustworthy  wit- 
nesses ;  but  we  may  ask  what  they  could  possibly  know 
of  events  preceding  their  birth  by  centuries.  What,  for 
instance,  were  the  sources  from  which  Fabius  Pictor,  in 
the  second  century  before  Christ,  derived  the  details  of 
the  war  with  Pyrrhus  in  the  third,  or  of  the  wars  with  the 
Samnites  in  the  fourth,  of  the  Volscian  and  Aequian  wars 
in  the  fifth,  and  the  whole  chronicle  of  the  kings  in  the 
sixth,  seventh,  and  even  eighth  centuries  before  the 
Christian  era  ? 

Of  one  thing  we  may  be  quite  certain  ;  the  annalists 
did  not  simply  invent  the  substance  of  their  narrative. 


1 8  Early  Rome.  CH.  il. 

certainly  not  the  whole  of  it.  The  task  would 

Scarcity  of  fie-  '  ,     r         ,         ■,  r  ■       ^ 

tion  pure  and    have  been  too  much  for  the  dry,  frigid,  and 
simple.  unproductive  imagination  of  a  Roman.     If, 

on  the  other  hand,  a  Greek  had  concocted  the  account 
it  would  have  been  far  more  lively  than  it  is,  more  in- 
teresting, and  full  of  startling  occurrences,  and  would 
shine  in  all  the  varied  hues  of  the  exuberant  fancy  with 
which  that  brilliant  race  was  endowed.  The  stories  were 
evidently  not  invented  by  Romans,  nor  could  they,  such 
as  we  know  them,  have  been  invented  by  Greeks.  Be- 
sides which,  on  the  whole,  the  divergencies  and  contra- 
dictions which  they  contain  atifect  only  the  detail  of  the 
narrative.  A  uniform  character  and  spirit  pervade  all 
the  legends,  making  it  probable  that  Fabius  and  Cin- 
cius,  as  well  as  Naevius  and  Ennius,  when  they  began 
to  write,  found  a  ready-made  tradition,  with 
Existence  of  a    f^^cd   popular  notions   about  the    principal 

traditional  sto-  r    r  ^  i  r 

ry  before  Fa-  evcnts  of  the  old  period,  and  moreover  a 
vast  number  of  names  and  dates,  round 
w^hich  the  narrative  was  grouped  in  a  generally  accred- 
ited digest.  How  shall  we  account  for  the  existence  of 
such  a  popular,  unwritten  histoiy  at  the  time  of  the  first 
attempts  at  historical  composition? 

It  was  one  of  Niebuhr's  favourite  theories  that  a  great 
portion  of  the  traditional  history,  embodied  in  their 
works  by  the  first  annalists,  was  derived  from  national 
epic  poetry.  Cato  and  Varro  refer  to  a  custom  which, 
-,        .  they  sav,  prevailed  among  their  ancestors. 

Non-existence  j         ^  '  r  o 

of  a  national  of  singing  the  praiscs  of  great  men  at  festive 
banquets  to  an  accompaniment  of  the  flute. 
But  we  cannot  form  the  slightest  conception  of  the  char- 
acter of  these  songs.  We  do  not  even  know  whether 
they  were  epic  or  lyric  ;  we  are  not  informed  that  they 
were  made  use  of  by  any  of  the  annalists  ;  and  what  is 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Ro}ne.  19 

a  still  more  decisive  objection,  the  character  of  the  writ- 
ings of  the  annalists  is  eminently  dry  and  unpoetical, 
with  very  few  exceptions.  After  all,  if  Niebuhr's  theory 
were  true,  it  would  prove  that  no  reliance  could  be  placed 
on  the  alleged  poetical  stories,  for  poetry,  though  it  may 
be  based  on  fact,  contains  so  large  an  element  of  fiction, 
and  combines  truth  and  fiction  so  intimately,  that  no 
critical  test  will  enable  us  to  extract  from  it  genuine  his- 
torical truth. 

In  the  absence  of  epic  poems,  which  might  explain 
the  preservation  of  the  facts  of  ancient  Roman  history, 
we    are    thrown    back   upon    ordinary  oral 

,.  .  ^,  .        ,  ,  Oral  tradition. 

tradition.  Ihis  alone,  as  we  have  seen,  un- 
aided by  some  external  and  artificial  mode  of  recording 
facts,  is  sure  to  degenerate  very  soon.  What,  for  exam- 
ple, would  be  our  notions  at  the  present  day  of  the  Re- 
volution of  the  seventeenth  century,  if  we  had  to  derive 
our  knowledge  of  it  through  oral  tradition  alone  ?  But, 
it  may  be  objected,  we  neglect  oral  tradition  because  we 
do  not  require  it  in  our  literary  age.  There  is  consider- 
able weight  in  this  objection.  The  Romans,  in  the  ages 
before  the  application  of  the  art  of  writing  to  literature, 
were  no  doubt  compelled  to  cultivate  tradi-  ^^^^^^^^^^  ^1 
tion,  if  thev  wished  to  preserve  the  memory    the  knowledge 

•'  ^  .  ,  J.       of  precedents 

of  the  past,  and  we  may  give  them  credit  and  customary 
for  this  from  what  we  know  of  their  national 
pride.  Moreover,  the  constitution  of  Rome,  like  that  of 
England,  as  we  have  pointed  out  already,  was  never 
subverted  entirely  by  revolutions  which  swept  away  the 
existing  institutions  and  obliterated  the  memory  of  the 
past.  All  the  laws  that  were  in  force  at  any  particular 
time  had  their  roots  in  previous  phases  of  the  common- 
wealth. Precedents  were  of  much  value  in  deciding 
questions  of  the  day,  and   it  was  necessary  for    public 


20  Early  Rome.  CH.  ii. 

men  to  be  familiar  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  history  of 
previous  legislation  and  the  events  and  conditions  which 
brought  it  about. 

This  familiarity  with  the  deeds  of  their  forefathers 
was  greatly  facilitated  in  Rome  by  the  fixity  of  the  Ro- 
man families,  by  the  composition  of  the  senate,  and  by 
the  organization  c)f  the  priestly  bodies. 

Of  the  fostering  care  given  to  the  memory  of  their  an- 
cestors by  the  great  families  of  Rome,  we  shall  have  to 
speak  by-and-by.  The  senate,  as  we  shall  see,  consisted 
^  of  men  chosen  for  life.  It  was  never  wholly 

The  senate  as  ,.     ,     ^  •        i      n     i 

conservator  of  renewed.  It  never  died.  It  contamed  all  the 
thep^^™^'^^  °    men  who  had  served  the  state   from  their 

youth  upwards  in  peace  and  war,  who  were 
familiar  with  the  laws,  and  consequently  with  the  his' 
tory  of  their  people.  In  their  debates  previous  events 
must  have  been  constantly  referred  to  ;  and  though  the 
past  naturally  slips  by  degrees  into  the  background  of 
memory,  yet  such  startling  events  as  the  Gallic  invasion, 
or  the  conquest  ofVeii,  or  the  secession  of  the  plebeians, 
or  the  legislation  of  the  decemvirs,  could  never  be  en- 
tirely forgotten. 

Still  more  preservative  of  the  memories  of  the  past 
were    necessarily   those    "collegia"    or  corporations  of 

priests,  who,  like  the  augurs,  were  intimately 
Thesacerdotal    connected  with  every  public  transaction,  or 

corporations.  -^    ^ 

who,  like  the  pontiffs,  were  the  keepers  and 
expositors  of  all  divine  and  human  law.  The  pontiffs, 
as  we  shall  presently  see,  were  especially  charged  with 
keeping  a  public  register  of  important  passing  events, 
and  although  these  registers  contained  orobably  not  so 
much  political  as  sacerdotal  information,  respecting  tem- 
ples, omens,  or  other  such  matters,  yet  it  is  not  unlikely 
that  the  college  of  pontiffs  was  the  first  to  work  up  and 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  21 

digest  into  a  consecutive  narrative  the   va- 

1  ,    J-  1-1111  Probability  of 

nous  isolated  facts  which  had  been  trans-    a  pontifical 
mitted  from  preceding  times  in  one  way  or    "^'■'■^'^^^• 
another,  and  that  the  men  who  took  a  leading  part  in 
public  affairs  were  more  or  less  famihar  with   a   current 
narrative  generally  believed  to  be  the  history  of  the  Ro- 
man people. 

Nevertheless  we  cannot  imagine  that  tradition  alone 
would  have  sufficed  to  produce  a  continuous  and  con- 
nected narrative  of  the  transactions  of  sev- 
eral centuries,   however  faithfully  it   might    ^oneinsuffi°'' 
preserve  the  memory  of  grent  national  events    ^'^"' '°  ^*=: 

^  .  .-         o  count  for  the 

and  eminent  public  men.  The  Roman  an-  detail  of  the 
nahsts  gave  year  by  year  the  names  of  the 
consuls,  often  men  of  no  great  repute,  and  related  many 
events  which  are  anything  but  striking  or  picturesque. 
Tradition  alone  would  not  be  able  to  preserve  such  a 
string  of  names  unbroken  and  unentangled  for  a  great 
number  of  years.  It  would,  however,  be  pushing  doubt 
too  far  if  v/e  were  to  look  upon  all  those  names  and  sto- 
ries as  fictitious.  Moreover  the  chronological  order  in 
which  they  are  related,  though  sometimes  interrupted 
and  sometimes  confused,  is  after  all  not  so  hopelessly 
irregular  or  contradictory  as  to  be  irreconcileable  with 
the  natural  and  probable  development  of  Roman  affairs. 
Its  very  irregularities,  the  blanks  and  contradictions  it 
contains,  are  in  its  favour.  Were  it  a  deliberate  fabrica- 
tion, it  would  be  much  more  smooth  and  plausible.  It 
produces  on  the  whole  the  impression  of  a  genuine  though 
very  imperfect  record.  To  strengthen  this  confidence, 
we  must  inquire  whether  any  such  genuine  records  ex- 
isted at  the  time  when  the  annalists  began  to  write,  and 
what  is  their  character  and  trustworthiness. 

It  was  an  ancient  custom  at  Rome,  continued  down 


2  2  Early  Rome.  CH.  ii. 

to  the  time  of  the  Gracchi  (131  B.C.),  for  the  Pontifex 
_,  .        Maximus,  the  head  of  the  ix)ntifical  college 

The  ponti-  .  .  ^  ° 

fical  or  great  or  Corporation,  to  write  down  every  year  the 
most  remarkable  events  and  to  publish  them 
on  wooden  tablets  for  the  information  of  the  people. 
These  tablets  were  preserved  in  the  Regia,  the  official 
dwelling  of  the  chief  pontiff,  near  the  temple  of  Vesta 
on  the  Roman  forum.  The  attention  of  the  sacerdotal 
chroniclers,  it  is  true,  was  directed  not  so  much  to  politi- 
cal transactions  as  to  occurrences  which  were  looked 
upon  as  manifestations  of  the  divine  will,  such  as  dearth, 
famine,  pestilence,  inundations,  earthquakes,  and  eclipses 
of  the  sun  and  moon.  The  anger  of  the  gods  on  such 
occasions  was  averted  by  expiatory  sacrifices  which  the 
pontiffs  prescribed.  It  is  not  unlikely  that  foreign  wars 
and  civil  disturbances  may  likewise  have  been  noticed 
in  these  annual  registers,  and  at  any  rate  it  would  seem 
that  to  fix  the  date  of  any  entries  the  names  of  the  chief 
magistrates  must  have  been  given,  as  the  Romans 
marked  the  successive  years  not  by  numbering  them 
from  a  fixed  era,  but  by  the  names  of  the  magistrates  of 
each  year. 

Thus  a  meagre,  but  at  any  rate  a  trustworthy  abstract 
of  the  most  striking  events  must  have  been  compiled 
from  the  time  when  these  pontifical  annals  (called  also 
Anjiales  Maximi,  after  the  Pontifex  Maximus)  were  first 
kept.  And,  if  we  could  trust  a  statement  of  Cicero,  the 
custom  of  keeping  such  annals  would  date  from  the  very 
foundation  of  Rome. 

This,  however,  we  cannot  accept  as  true.  For,  not  to 
speak  of  the  regal  period,  the  annals  of  the  republic 
during  the  first  two  centuries  exhibit  so  many  discrepan- 
cies and  contradictions  in  the  names  of  the  annual  ma- 
gistrit  s,  so  many  repetitions,  so  many  gaps  and  palpa- 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  23 

ble  errors,  that  the  idea  of  their  being  based 

.  ,  .        1  .  .  Age  of  the 

on  contemporary  evidence  is  altogether  in-         pontifical 
admissible.     We  are  driven  to  the  conclu-         annals, 
sion  that  the  pontifical  annals  are  not  of  the  antiquity 
assigned  to  them  by  Cicero,  or  that  the  older  ones  had 
been  lost  when  the  annalists  began  to  write. 

Now  this  inference  is  borne  out  by  external  evidence. 
Livy  relates,  that  in  the  Gallic  conflagration  most  of  the 
public  and  private  records  were  consumed  by  the  flames. 
That  the  pontifical  annals  were  included  in  this  gene- 
ral calamity  there  can  be  no  doubt,  for  they  were  written 
on  wooden  tablets,  and  the  hurry  of  the  Romans  in  their 
flight  was  so  great  that  they  had  difficulty  even  in  saving 
the  sacred  fire  of  Vesta.  What  could  have  induced 
them  to  burden  themselves  with  these  clumsy  historical 
archives,  when  they  could  hardly  save  their  bare  lives? 
No  room,  therefore,  is  left  for  doubt  that  all  the  contem- 
poraneous records  which  may  have  existed  before  the 
Gallic  war  perished  at  that  time,  and  that  the  books 
given  out  at  a  later  period  as  copied  from  the  pontifical 
annals  must  have  been  compiled  afterwards  from 
memory  or  from  other  sources. 

Other  materials  for  the  oldest  annals  existed  in  the 
shape  of  various  offlcial  documents,  books  of  law  based 
on   precedents,  books  containing  rules  and 
regulations  for  different   public    function  a-      Other  public 

°  ^  documents. 

ries,  census  lists,  and,  above  all,  official 
lists  of  the  annual  magistrates.  Some  of  these  books 
may  have  been  kept  in  the  Capitol,  which  resisted  the 
onset  of  the  Gauls.  But  the  greater  part  of  them  must 
have  been  renewed  after  the  war,  and  therefore  they 
cannot  claim  to  be  considered  unimpeachable  contem- 
porary evidence. 
Another  kind  of  documents  which  may  have  helped 


24  Early  Rome.  ch.  ii. 

to  preserve  the  memory  of  bygone  times  consists  of  laws 

and  treaties  cut  in  stone  or  engraved  on  metal  tablets. 

Among  the  most  important  of  these   were 

Laws  and         ^j^g  \2.\\s  of  the  twelve  tables,  which  are  said 

treaties.  ' 

to  have  been  exhibited  in  the  Forum.    Cop- 
per at  that  time  had  the  value  of  money  ;  it  is  therefore 
^  ^        not    likely  that   these  tablets  escaped  the 

Laws  of  the  .         ^  ^ 

twelve  rapacity  of  the  Gauls,  who  whilst  they  be 

sieged  the  Capitol  ransacked  all  Rome  for 
hidden  treasures.  We  may  be  sure  that  the  twelve 
tables  of  the  Decemvirs  did  not  escape  ;  but  as  they 
contained  the  fundamental  laws  of  the  republic,  we  may 
be  equally  sure  that  they  were  speedily  restored,  and 
moreover  that  they  w^ere  restored  faithfully. 

The  same  authenticity  cannot  be  attributed  to  the  so- 
called  Laws  of  the  Kings  [leges  regies),  which  are  often 

mentioned  by  later  writers  and  unhesita- 
laws*^of^the  tingly  assigned  to  one  or  another  of  the  seven 
^'"ss-  kings    as   their  author.     They  are  all  of  a 

more  or  less  religious  character,  are  no  doubt  of  great 
antiquity,  and  refer  to  those  rites  and  religious  customs 
which  precede  all  secular  legislation.  As  the  Roman 
kings  were  not  only  civil  magistrates,  but  more  em- 
phatically the  high  priests  of  the  nation,  these  laws  were 
supposed  to  have  been  enacted  by  them  ;  but  they  ap- 
pear never  to  have  been  committed  to  writing  in  any 
authoritative  form  by  order  of  the  State,  and  if  any  col- 
lection existed  in  the  Gallic  war,  its  testimony  would 
have  no  value  as  to  events  of  the  regal  period. 

Several    ancient  writers   have  left  us  descriptions  of 
monuments  of  the   primeval   age  of  Rome,  including 

statues  of  kings  and  heroes  and  relics  of 
relfcT  ^^        various  kings,  such  as  the  augural  staff  of 

Romulus,  his    straw-thatched  hut,  the   fig- 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  25 

tree  at  the  roots  of  which  Faustulus  found  the  basket 
contained  Romulus  and  Remus.  The  value  of  such 
pretended  documents  of  antiquity  will  not  be  rated  high 
even  in  an  age  in  which  relics  not  less  wonderful  abound 
and  are  venerated  by  thousands.  The  Romans  were 
as  childlike  in  their  craving  for  the  wonderful  as  our 
own  superstitious  classes,  and  this  craving  was  amply 
satisfied  by  priestly  and  antiquarian  craft.  Hence, 
though  genuine  movements  may  preserve  the  memory 
of  historical  events,  it  is  clear  that  not  much  of  trust- 
worthy history  can  have  been  elicited  from  the  objects 
just  enumerated. 

Of  a  very  different  value,  no  doubt,  are  public  monu- 
ments which  contain  inscriptions,  provided  that  the  age 
of  the  monuments  and  the  genuineness  of 
the  inscriptions  are  beyond  doubt.     But  the      Public 

^  ■'  monuments. 

Statues  of  the  Roman  kings  on  the  Capitol 
contained  no  inscriptions,  and  the  inscriptions  on  co- 
lumns and  shields  which  writers  like  Livy  and  Diony- 
sius  refer  to  as  genuine,  can  be  shown  to  be  fabrica- 
tions of  comparatively  recent  time. 

We  have  now  reviewed  in  succession  the  different 
sources  from  which  the  materials  employed  by  the  first 
annalists  of  Rome  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  drawn. 
We  have  found  them  all  very  scanty,  and  it  will  go  hard 
for  the  credibility  of  the  early  annals  if  we  cannot  dis- 
cover any  other  sources  more  copious  and  clear. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  solid  struc- 
ture of  the  Roman  families.  The  Romans  are  the  only 
people  of  antiquity  where  all  families  were      ^.  . 

1       1       J       •  1   1  1  1  Fixity  and 

regularly  designated  by  and  propagated  un-      continuity 
der  a  permanent   family  name.      Whereas      Romin 
in  Greece  names  as  a  rule  were  simply  des-      families. 
ignations  of  individuals,  and  a  man  would  show  that  he 


2  6  Early  Rome.  CH.  ii. 

belonged  to  a  particular  family  only  by  adding  his  fa- 
ther's name  to  his  own,  seldom  using  a  patronymic,  the 
Romans  had  but  a  very  small  number  of  individual, 
personal  names  ;  but  everyone  bore  the  name  of  that 
particular  family  to  which  he  belonged,  such  as  Horatius, 
Valerius,  Fabius,  and  the  like.  The  families,  not  the  in- 
dividual citizens,  formed  the  units  of  which  the  Roman 
people  was  made  up.  Each  family  was  a  small  com- 
munity in  itself,  organized  for  economic  and  social 
purposes  under  the  government  of  the  "  paterfamilias," 
who  had  power  of  life  and  death,  and  was  the  sole 
owner  of  the  family  property  as  long  as  he  lived.  The 
family  dwelt  under  the  same  roof  often  long  after  the 
sons  were  married:  its  members  cultivated  in  common 
the  family  estate,  and  they  were  bound  to  each  other  by 
the  strongest  ties  of  mutual  duty  and  interest. 

The  aristocratic  spirit  which  pervades  all  Roman  his- 
tory is  derived  from  the  position  and  influence  which  the 
great  families,  so   firmly  and  permanently 
tocratic"^  Organized,  exercised  in  public  affairs.    They 

spirit  and  j^j^,^  existed  in  isolation  and  independence 

pride.  ^ 

before  they  combined  to  form  a  federal 
community;  and  they  retained  a  great  portion  of  their 
original  spirit  ever  afterwards.  Religion  lent  her  aid  to 
strengthen  this  spirit.  Adhering  strictly  in  this  respect 
to  the  earliest  form  of  Aryan  civilization,  every  family 
had  its  own  peculiar  deity,  its  family  altar,  and  its  family 
grave.  No  stranger  was  allowed  to  share  in  the  worship 
of  the  family,  or  to  be  laid  in  the  family  tomb.  The 
strictness  with  which  strangers  were  excluded  from  the 
inner  communion  of  a  family  was  proportioned  to  the 
strength  of  the  attachment  which  bound  the  members 
together,  and  the  veneration  felt  by  all  for  the  head  of 
the  family  was  transferred  to  his  memory  after  his  death. 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  27 

His  grave  was  a  sacred  spot,  and  annual  offerings  were 
made  to  his  spirit.  Nor  was  his  memory  allowed  to  fall 
into  obhvion.  Not  only  was  it  the  practice  for  the  son 
to  add  the  father's  name  to  his  own,  and  to  call  himself, 
for  instance,  Lucius  Manhus,  the  son  of  Marcus  (M.  f.), 
but  he  added  the  grandfather's  name  as  well.  And  those 
famihes  which  could  boast  of  a  distinguished  progenitor 
who  had  served  the  State  in  one  of  the  higher 
places  of  trust,  preserved  a  bust  or  rather      Family  por- 

1  r      1  1  traits. 

mask   of   the   departed   in   the  atriwn,   or 
great  hall  of  the  house,  and  registered  his  name  and  the 
titles  of  the  offices  he  had  filled  by  degrees  with  a  gal- 
lery of  family  portraits  which  formed  a  kind  of  pedigree, 
and  were  the  boast  and  pride  of  the  survivors. 

When   a  member  of  the   family  died,  the  niches  in 
which    the   masks    were   kept   were    opened.      Persons 
dressed  in  the  official  robes  of  the  departed 
placed  the  masks  before   their  faces,   and  linerai" 

thus  representing  the  members  of  the  for- 
mer generations  of  the  family  accompanied  the  body  of 
the  recently  deceased  to  the  market-place.  There  the 
eldest  son  or  some  other  member  of  the  family  as- 
cended the  pulpit  and  delivered  a  funeral  oration  in 
which  he  set  forth  the  dead  man's  virtues  and  services. 
Nor  did  he  limit  himself  to  the  deeds  of  one 
ancestor  ;  but  ascending  the  stream  of  his-       Funeral  ora- 

'  '^  _  tions. 

tory  he  traced  the  great  men  of  his  house 
to  the  earlier  days  of  the  republic,  and  dwelt  upon  their 
exploits.  Such  speeches,  technically  called  "lauda- 
tions," kept  alive  the  memory  not  only  of  the  doings  of 
one  family,  but  of  the  whole  people ;  they  were  a  kind 
of  popular  history  viewed  from  the  standpoint  of  a  single 
family.  And  as  each  noble  house  contributed  its  share, 
the  smaller  streams  of  family  histories  naturally  united 
and  formed  a  broad  channel  of  national  traditions. 


28  Early  Rome.  ch.   ii. 

The  frequent  occurrence  of  such   solemnities  would 
naturally  suggest   the  advisability  of  putting  down    in 
writing  the  leading  features  of  these  lauda- 
Wmten  lau-       tious,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the  me- 
mory and  enabling  successive  speakers  to 
do  full  justice  to  those  whom  they  were  called  upon  to 
honour.     Thus  arose  family  chronicles,  which,  as  we  are 
distinctly  informed,  were  kept  in  some  noble 
Family  houses,    but   which   we   may    safely   infer, 

chronicles.  '  j  j  ' 

were  com.mon  in  all.  They  were  preserved 
in  the  tablimim,  the  place  for  the  family  archives,  and 
they  most  likely  formed  the  chief  written  materials  from 
which  Fabius  and  Cincius  composed  the  first  national 
annals. 

We  do  not  know  the  precise  age  when  these  family 

chronicles  were  first  composed,  nor  can  we  speak  with 

more  certainty  of  the  time  of  the  first  writ- 

Theiranti-         ^^j^  laudations.     Even  the  antiquity  of  the 

quity  ^       •' 

solemn  funerals  is  not  attested  by  any 
external  evidence.  But  there  is  nothing  to  prevent  us 
from  supposing  that  the  practice  of  the  solemn  funerals  in- 
cluding the  laudations,  was  as  old  as  the  republic,  and  that 
the  first  written  memorials  of  the  family  worthies  were 
made  as  soon  as  the  art  of  writing  was  applied  to  practi- 
cal use  in  public  and  private  life,  z.  e.  in  the  earliest  ages 
of  the  republic.  It  is  true  we  must  admit  that  all  such  me- 
morials which  existed  at  the  time  of  the  Gallic  war,  per- 
ished in  the  flames,  except  those  which  may  have  been  pre- 
served in  houses  on  the  Capitoline  hill.  But  after  the 
restoration  of  the  city  we  may  be  quite  sure  that  most 
of  what  had  been  lost  was  restored,  and  restored  from  a 
memory  which  had  been  constantly  refreshed  by  the 
periodical  recurrence  of  the  occasions  for  delivering 
laudatory  speeches.     Perfect  accuracy,  of  course,  was 


CH.  II.  Sources  of  the  History  of  Rome.  29 

out  of  the  question.  Errors  of  various  kinds  would 
creep  in,  and  would  be  perpetuated.  Apart  from  such 
involuntary  errors,  the  family  traditions  would  be  cor- 
rupted by  wilful  falsifications,  by  concealing  disasters, 
by  exaggerating   successes,  by  repetitions 

and  omissions  of  various  kinds.     It  is  ad-       ^"^  charac- 
ter. 

mitted  by  Cicero  that  the  history  of  Rome 
has  suffered  in  veracity  from  such  private  documents, 
and  this  defect  is  indeed  palpable  on  the  very  face  of  it. 
But  what  we  contend  for  is  this,  that  the  substratum  of 
all  these  tales  is  real  and  not  simply  fictitious,  that 
many  of  the  errors  can  be  detected  and  corrected,  and 
that,  even  where  the  detail  is  lost,  the  general  character 
of  the  events  and  the  leading  features  stand  out  with 
sufficient  distinctness. 

A  patient  examination  of  the  early  annals  of  Rome 
shows  clearly  that  their  origin  from  family  chronicles  is 
undeniable.     The  number  of  noble  families 
sharing  among  themselves  the  high  offices      chaTaaerof 
of  state  was  so  small   that   sometimes  for       ^^^  earliest 

annals. 

years  together  the  same  names  occur  in  the 
lists  of  consuls,  and  so  the  history  of  these  men  is  iden- 
tical with  the  history  of  the  republic.  Thus  the  Valerii 
and  the  Fabii  at  one  time,  the  Furii  and  Manlii  at 
another,  practically  ruled  the  state  and  filled  the  annals 
with  their  names.  If  we  assume  that  the  lists  of  magis- 
trates, imperfectly  kept  or  preserved,  but  still  preserved 
in  some  way,  enabled  the  first  compilers  to  reduce  the 
varied  and  often  conflicting  statements  of  the  family 
chronicles  to  some  sort  of  order ;  that  the  memorials  in 
the  hands  of  the  pontiffs  and  other  priests  and  magis- 
trates supplied  materials  of  another  kind;  that  oral 
tradition  enlivened  and  diversified  the  dry  outline, 
giving  flesh  and  blood  to  the  skeleton   of  names  and 

D 


30  Early  Rome.  ch   u 

figures  ;  ^.nd  that  a  little  imagination  and  editorial  skih 
smoothed  down  the  rough  parts  of  this  heterogeneous 
mass,  we  can  perfectly  understand  the  genesis  of  the 
history  of  primeval  Rome,  we  can  account  for  every 
peculiar  feature  which  marks  it,  and  we  shall  wonder 
no  longer  at  its  defects,  nor  doubt  the  possibility  of  its 
trustworthiness  in  the  general  outlines. 

What  we  have  just  said  with  regard  to  the  origin  of 
the  early  annals   applies   strictly  only  to   those   of  the 

republic,  and  not  to  the  so-called  history  of 
tio^' confined  the  Roman  kings.  This  follows  as  a  natural 
can^^rio^d^^'"    consequence  from  the  fact,  that  hardly  one 

of  the  names  of  families  which  occur  in  the 
republican  annals  is  found  in  the  stories  of  the  regal 
period.  It  is  clear  that  the  family  traditions  did  not  go 
further  back  than  the  establishment  of  annual  chief 
magistrates.  The  yearly  registers  too,  whatever  may 
have  been  their  value,  did  not  include  the  period  ante- 
rior to  the  establishment  of  the  republic.     The  narrative 

of  the  kings  passes  over  long  periods  of  years 
t?eSme"nt  of  ^^  '^oX.tA  silcncc,  whcrcas  the  republican  an- 
the  regal  and    xi^A^  ffive  in  evetv  year  at  least  the  names  of 

the  republican  »  ^    ■' 

period  in  the  the  consuls  and  generally  make  mention  of 
some  political  or  warlike  transaction.  There 
is,  moreover,  another  fundamental  difference.  The 
republican  annals,  it  is  true,  contain  many  improbabili- 
ties and  some  statements  which  are  altogether  incredi- 
ble ;  but  on  the  whole  they  are  sober  and  keep  within 
the  bounds  of  what  is  possible  and  credible.  The  story 
of  the  kings,  on  the  other  hand,  is  unreal  and  improba- 
ble from  beginning  to  end.  Its  whole  plan,  composition, 
and  arrangement  bears  the  stamp  of  bold  and  clumsy 
fiction.  We  have  said  above  that  internal  probability  is 
not    in    itself  a  proof  of  the  historical  truth  of  a   nar- 


CH.  III.  Lege7ids  of  the  Kings.  31 

rative,  for  fiction  may  be  made  to  resemble  truth  very 
closely.  But  if  fiction  is  so  childish  and  silly  that  it  can- 
not be  reconciled  with  what  we  all  recognize  as  being 
in  accordance  with  physical  or  moral  laws,  no  amount 
of  external  attestation  could  make  us  accept  it  as  truth. 
Hence,  in  the  absence  of  external  evidence,  we  must 
apply  the  test  of  internal  probability  and  possibility  to 
the  narrative  of  the  kings  of  Rome.  We  must  therefore 
make  ourselves  acquainted  with  so  much  of  it  as  will 
supply  us  with  materials  for  our  criticism. 
We  shall  do  this  the  more  willingly  as,  apart  no'tkhTg  the 
from  any  hfstorical  value,  the  story  of  Ro-  ih?ktn  ^l 
mulus  and  his  successors  has  a  certain  de- 
gree of  literary  importance  for  us.  It  was  believed  al- 
most implicitly  by  the  Romans  themselves;  it  furnished 
their  poets  and  orators  with  materials  for  declamation 
and  ornament ;  it  forms  part  of  the  knowledge  consi- 
dered essential  even  now  for  a  good  education  ;  and  it 
will  serve  us  as  a  background  for  the  picture  which  we 
shall  afterwards  draw  of  the  events  more  justly  entitled 
to  our  attention  and  study. 


CHAPTER  HI. 

THE   LEGENDS   OF   THE   SEVEN    KINGS   OF  ROME. 

At  the  time  when  the  CapitoHne  and  the   neighbouring 
hills  were  covered  with  wood  or  pasture,  all  the  country 
round  about  and   all   the  cities    of  Latium    The  legend  of 
were  governed  by  the  kings  of  the   mighty    ^ro-Tn  '^^ 
city  of  Alba    Longa,   which    stood    on   the 
banks  of  the  Alban  Lake,  high  on  a  hill  overlooking  the 


a. 


32  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

whole  plain  as  far  as  the  sea.  The  city  of  Alba  was 
built  by  Ascanius,  the  son  of  Aeneas,  the  Trojan,  who 
had  escaped  from  the  burning  of  Troy,  and  after  many 
wanderings  and  adventures  had  settled  on  the  coast  of 
Latium,  and  there  had  built  the  town  of  Lavinium.  Af- 
ter the  death  of  Aeneas,  his  son  had  transferred  the  seat 
of  his  kingdom  to  Alba,  and  there  his  descendants  ruled 
for  300  years  in  prosperity  and  peace. 

Now  when  the  time  was  fulfilled  in  which,  according 
to  the  decree  of  the  gods,  Rome  should  be  built,  it  came 
to  pass  that  after  the  death  of  Procas,  the  King  of  Alba, 
a  quarrel  arose  betw^een  his  two  sons  for  the  throne. 
Amulius,  the  younger,  took  the  government  from  his 
elder  brother  Numitor,  killed  his  son,  and  made  his 
daughter,  Rhea  Silvia  a  priestess  of  Vesta,  to  the  end 
that  she  should  remain  a  virgin  all  her  life,  engaged  in 
the  service  of  the  goddess  who  presides  over  the  city 
hearth  and  loves  purity  and  chastity  in  those  who  serve 
her.     But  the  wicked  king  was  not  able  to 

Birth   of  Ro-  ,.,,.,  f         ^        ,, 

mulusandRe-  oppose  the  Will  of  the  gods.  For  Mars,  the 
™"^'  god  of  war,  loved  the  virgin,  and   she  bore 

twins.  When  Amulius  heard  this,  he  ordered  the  mo- 
ther to  be  killed  and  the  twins  to  be  thrown  into  the  river 
Tiber.  But  the  gods  watched  over  the  children,  and  the 
basket  in  which  they  were  laid  floated  to  the  foot  of  the 
Palatine  hill  near  the  cave  of  the  god  Lupercus,  and 
was  caught  by  the  branches  of  a  fig-tree.  The  waters  of 
the  river  now  fell  rapidly,  and  the  twins  were  left  upon 
the  land. 

Attracted  by  their  cry,  a  she-wolf  came  out  from  the 
cave  of  Lupercus  and  suckled  them  with  her  own  milk 
and  licked  them  with  her  tongue.  When  Faustu- 
lus,  a  shepherd  who  tended  his  flocks  hard  by,  saw  this, 
he  scared  away  the  animal  and  brought  the  children  to 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  33 

his  wife  Larentia,  and  called  them  Romulus  and  Re- 
mus, and  brought  them  up  as  his  own  children.  Thus 
the  boys  grew  up  among  the  shepherds,  and  they  dis- 
tinguished themselves  by  their  strength  and  courage, 
and  protected  the  weak  against  the  lawless  men  who 
went  forth  to  pillage  and  plunder.  Then  it  came  to  pass 
that  their  enemies  fell  upon  them  while  they  were  cele- 
brating the  festival  of  the  god  Pan.  Remus  was  taken 
prisoner  and  brought  before  his  grandfather  Numitor, 
and  accused  of  having  injured  his  cattle.  But  Romulus 
escaped.  Now  Faustulus  delayed  no  longer,  but  told 
Romulus  of  his  mother,  and  how  he  was  destined  to 
death  by  Amulius,  and  miraculously  saved.  So  Romu- 
lus and  his  followers  forced  their  way  into  the  town  of 
Alba,  and  set  his  brother  free,  and  the  two  brothers  hav- 
ing slain  the  unjust  and  cruel  Amulius,  placed  their 
grandfather  Numitor  again  upon  the  throne. 

But  the  brothers  would  not  remain  in  Alba,  and  de- 
termined to  build  a  new  city  on  one  of  the  seven  hills 
by  the  Tiber,  near  the  spot  where  they  had  grown  up 
among  the  shepherds,  and  they  were  joined  by  many 
from  Alba  and  from  the  whole  country  of  the  Latins. 

Now  as  Romulus  and  Remus  were  twins,  and  as  nei- 
ther would  yield  to  the  other  in  honour  and  power,  a 
quarrel  arose  between  them  and  their  fol-       Dispute 
lowers  which  of  them  should  g-ive  his  name      between 

°  Romulus 

to  the  new  town  and  govern  it.  And  they  and  Remus. 
determined  to  let  the  gods  decide  by  a  sign  from  the 
sacred  birds.  Then  Romulus  with  his  followers  observed 
the  heavens  from  the  Palatine  hill,  and  Remus  took  his 
station  on  the  Aventine,  and  thus  they  both  waited  for  a 
sign  from  heaven,  from  midnight  until  morning.  Then 
there  appeared  to  Remus  six  vultures,  and  he  rejoiced 
and  sent  messeng-ers  to  his  brother  announcing  that  the 


34  Early  Rome.  CH.  iii. 

gods  had  decided  in  his  favour.  But  at  the  same  mo- 
ment Romulus  saw  twelve  vultures,  and  it  was  plain  that 
the  gods  gave  the  preference  to  Romulus.  Therefore  he 
„  .,  J.       ^       built  the  town  on  the  Palatine  hill  and  called 

Building  oi 

Rome  by  it  Romc,  after  his  own  name,   and  drew  a 

omu  us.  furrow  round  it  with  the  sacred  plough,  and 

along  by  the  furrow  he  built  a  wall  and  dug  a  trench. 
But  when  Remus  saw  the  doings  of  his  brother,  he  mocked 
him,  and  leaped  over  the  wall  and  the  trench  to  show 
him  how  easily  the  town  might  be  taken. 
Death  of  Then  Romulus  was  wroth  and  slew  his  bro- 

Kemus. 

ther,  saying,  "  Thus  perish  everyone  who 
may  attempt  to  cross  these  walls."  And  this  remained 
a  warning  word  for  all  future  times,  that  no  enemy 
should  venture  to  attack  Rome  unpunished. 

After  this,  Romulus,   to  increase    the   number  of  his 
people,  opened  a  place  of  refuge  on  the  Capitoline  hill. 

And  there  came  a  great  many  robbers  and 
The  Asylum      fufritives  of  all  kinds  from  all  the  surround- 

oi  Romulus.  ° 

ing  nations,  and  Romulus  received  them  all 

and  protected  them  and  made  them  citizens  of  his  town. 

But  there  was  a  lack  of  women  in  the  new  community. 

Therefore  Romulus  sent  messengers  to  the  towns  round 

about,  asking  the  neighbours  to  give  their 
Rape  of  the      daughters  in  marriage  to  the  Romans.     But 

Sabines.  °  ° 

the  messengers  were  sent  back  with  scorn 
and  charged  to  say,  that  there  could  be  no  union  and  no 
friendship  with  a  band  of  robbers  and  outcasts.  When 
Romulus  heard  this  answer,  he  hid  his  anger  and  invited 
the  dwellers  round  about  to  come  to  Rome  with  their 
wives  and  children  to  see  the  games  which  the  Romans 
wished  to  celebrate  in  honour  of  the  god  Consus ;  and 
there  came  a  great  n'imber  of  Sabines  who  lived  in  the 
city  of  Cures  among  the  mountains.    Now  when  all  eyes 


CH.  III.  Legefids  of  the  Kings.  35 

were  fixed  on  the  games,  suddenly  a  number  of  armed 
Romans  rushed  forward  and  carried  away  the  young 
women  of  the  Sabines,  After  this  the  parents  of  the 
women  hurried  away  from  Rome,  cursing  the  faithless 
lown  and  vowing  that  they  would  take  vengeance  on 
Romulus  and  his  people.  When  they  had  returned  home, 
they  gathered  a  great  army  and  placed  Titus  Tatius  their 
king  at  their  head,  and  marched  down  the  valley  of  the 
Tiber  until  they  reached  the  Quirinal  hill.  There  they 
|3itched  their  camp  and  laid  siege  to  the  Capitoline  hill, 
which  was  held  by  the  Romans.  Now,  one 
(day  when  Tarpeia,  the  daughter  of  the  Ro-  arpeia. 

man  captain,  had  gone  out  to  draw  water,  the  Sabines 
Pegged  her  to  open  a  gate  and  to  let  them  into  the  cita- 
del. Tarpeia  promised  to  do  this,  and  made  them  swear 
to  give  her  what  they  wore  on  their  left  arms,  meaning 
thereby  their  gold  armlets  and  rings;  whereupon  vvhen 
the  Sabines  had  penetrated  into  the  citadel,  they  threw 
their  heavy  shields  which  they  wore  on  their  left  arms 
on  Tarpeia  and  killed  her  with  the  weight.  So  the  trai- 
tress met  with  her  reward. 

Now   when  the    Sabines  had   won    the  Capitol,  they 
fought  with  the  Romans  who  lived  on  the  Palatine,  and 

the  battle  ra^ed  up  and  down  in  the  valley 

...  ,  1  .,,         ^  ,  ^^ai"  of  the 

which   separates    the  two    hills.     One    day,       Romans  and 

when  Hostus  Hostilius,  a  foremest  champion        ^  *""' 

of  the  Romans,  had  fallen,  his  countrymen  were  seized 

with  fear,  and  turned  to  flight.     But  at  the  gate  of  the 

town  Romulus  stopped,  raised  his  hands  to  heaven,  and 

vowed    to    build  on  this    spot   a   temple   dedicated    to 

Jupiter  Stator,  that  is,  the  Stayer  of  Flight,  if  he  would 

be  helpful  to  the  Romans  in  this  need.     Then,  as  if  a 

voice  from  heaven  had  commanded  them,  the  Romans 

stayed  their  flight,  turned  round  upon  the  Sabines,  and 


36  Early  Rome.  CH.  in. 

drove  them  back.  And  it  came  to  pass  that 
Curdus.  Mettius  Curtius,  the  leader  of  the  Sabines, 

sank  with  his  horse  into  the  marsh  which 
covered  the  lower  part  of  the  valley,  and  almost  per- 
ished in  the  marsh.  And  the  place  where  this  happened 
was  called  for  ever  after  the  Lake  of  Curtius. 

When  the  battle  had  come  to  a  standstill,  and  Romans 
and  Sabines  were  facing  each  other  ready  to  begin  the 
fight  afresh,  the  Sabine  women  rushed  between  the  com- 
batants, praying  their  fathers  and  brothers  on  the  one 
side,  and  their  husbands  on  the  other,  to  end  the  bloody 
strife,  or  to  turn  their  arms  against  them  who  were  the 
cause  of  the  slaughter.  Then  the  men  listened  to  the 
voice  of  the  women  ;  and  the  chiefs  on  each  side  came 
forward  and  consulted  together,  and  made  peace,  and, 
to  put  an  end  to  all  disputes  for  ever,  they  agreed  to 
make  one  people  of  the  Romans  and  Sa- 
Romans  and  bines,  and  to  live  peaceably  together  as 
the  Sabines.  citizens  of  One  town.  Thus  the  Sabines 
remained  in  Rome,  the  city  was  doubled  in  size  and  in 
the  number  cf  inhabitants,  and  Titus  Tatius,  the  Sabine 
king,  reigned  jointly  with  Romulus.  But  as  Tatius  and 
his  people  came  from  Cures,  the  city  of  the  Sabines, 
high  up  among  the  mountains,  the  united  people  were 
called  the  "Roman  people  and  the  Ouirites,"  and  the 
name  remained  in  use  for  all  times. 

After  a  time  Tatius  had  a  quarrel  with  the  men  of 
Laurentum,  who  slew  him  when  he  was  bringing  offer- 
ings to  the  sanctuary  of  the  Penates  at  Lavinium. 
Thenceforward  Romulus  reigned  alone  over  the  two 
peoples,  and  he  made  laws  to  govern  them 
RomuiuJ°^  in  peace  and  war;  and  first  of  all  he  di- 
vided them  into  nobles  and  commons;  the 
nobles  he  called  Patricians  and  the  commons  Plebeians- 


CH.  Ill,  Lege /ids  of  the  Kings.  37 

Then  he  divided  the  Patricians  into  three  tribes,  the 
Ramnes,  the  Titles,  and  the  Luceres,  and  in  each  of 
these  tribes  he  made  ten  divisions,  which  he  called  Cu- 
ries. And  the  thirty  Curies  together  formed  the  assem- 
bly of  the  people,  and  met  to  administer  justice  and  to 
make  laws.  But  all  the  patricians  were  equal  among 
themselves,  and  every  father  of  a  family  governed  those 
of  his  own  house,  his  wife,  his  children,  and  his  slaves, 
with  absolute  power  over  life  and  death.  And  several 
families  united  together  and  formed  houses,  and  the 
houses  had  their  own  sanctuaries,  customs  and  laws. 
But  the  plebeians  Romulus  portioned  out  as  tenants 
and  dependants  among  the  patricians,  and  called  them 
Clients,  and  commanded  them  to  serve  their  masters 
faithfully  and  to  help  them  in  peace  and  in  war  ;  and  the 
patricians  he  recommended  to  protect  their  clients 
against  injustice ;  and  on  that  account  he  called  them 
Patrons,  that  is,  Protectors.  From  among  the  patricians, 
again,  he  chose  a  hundred  of  the  oldest  and  wisest  men, 
whom  he  called  Fathers,  and  made  them  his  council  to 
advise  him  on  all  great  matters  of  state  and  to  help  him 
to  govern  the  city  in  time  of  peace.  But  out  of  the 
young  men  he  chose  a  legion  or  army  of  3000  foot  sol- 
diers, and  300  horse,  according  to  the  number  of  the 
three  tribes  and  the  thirty  curies,  out  of  every  curia  100 
foot  soldiers  and  ten  horsemen,  and  for  the  captain  of 
the  horsemen  he  chose  a  tribune  of  the  Celeres  (for  this 
was  the  name  of  the  horsemen). 

After  the  city  had  been  so  ordered  and  made  strong 
to  defend  her  freedom,  Romulus  governed  wisely  and 
justly  for  many  years,  and  was  beloved  by  his  people  as 
a  father.  He  overcame  his  enemies  in  many  wars,  and 
conquered  Fidenae,  an  Etruscan  town  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Tiber,  not  far  from  Rome. 


^8  Early  Rome.  CH.  iil. 

Now  when  all  that  Romulus  had  to  carry  out  was 
fulfilled  according  to  the  will  of  the  gods,  it  came  to  pass 
that  he  assembled  the  people  to  a  festival  of  atonement 
at  the  Goat-pool,  on  the  field  of  Mars,  which  extends 
from  the  town  towards  the  north  even  to  the  Tiber. 
Then  there  arose  suddenly  a  fearful  storm,  and  the  sun 
was  darkened,  and  out  of  the  clouds  came  lightning,  and 
the  earth  quaked  with  the  thunder.  And  the  people 
were  frightened  and  waited  anxiously  till  the  storm 
should  clear  away.  But  when  daylight  returned,  Romu- 
lus had  disappeared  and  was  nowhere  to  be 
Death  of  found.     And  his  people  mourned  for  him. 

_  Then  Proculus  Julius,  an   honourable   man, 

V  came  forward  and  said  that  Romulus  had  appeared  to 
^'  him  as  a  god,  bidding  him  tell  his  people  to  worship  him 
as  Quirinus,  and  to  practise  valour  and  all  warlike  vir- 
tues, that  they  might  please  him  and  might  gain  for 
themselves  the  power  over  all  other  nations.  Then  the 
Romans  rejoiced  and  erected  on  the  Quirinal  hill  an 
altar  to  the  god  Quirinus,  and  worshipped  him  as  their 
national  hero  and -their  protector  for  ever. 

When  Romulus  had  left  the  earth  and  had  become  a 
god,  the  Fathers  met  together  and  appointed  interme- 
diate kings  from  the  senate,  to  reign  in  turn 
The  first  in-       each  for  five  days,  in  the  place  of  the  king, 

terregnum.  '     '  ^  °' 

till  a  new  king  should  be  chosen.  This 
temporary  government  or  interregnum  lasted  a  whole 
year  ;  for  the  Romans  were  at  variance  with  the  Sabincs, 
and  quarrelled  about  the  choice  of  the  new  king.  At 
last  they  agreed  that  a  Sabine  should  be  taken,  but  that 
the  Romans  should  choose  him. 

There  lived  at  that  time  in  the  land  of  the  Sabines 
a  righteous  man  called  Numa  Pompilius,  who  was 
honoured  and  beloved  by  everyone  on    account  of  his 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  39 

wisdom  and  piety.     This  man  the  Romans 

1  ,        •.  •  T-.  A       1        ,  Numa  Pom- 

chose  to  be  kmg  over  Rome.     And  when       piiius,the 

Numa  was  assured  of  the  consent  of  the  ^^'^^'^  '"^* 
gods  by  the  flight  of  the  sacred  birds,  he  called  together 
an  assembly  of  the  thirty  Curies,  and  asked  them  whether 
they  would  willingly  obey  all  his  commands.  Then  the 
people  consented,  and  Numa  reigned  in  Rome  forty- 
three  years  until  his  death. 

Now  the  Romans  were  a  rude  people  :  their  thoughts 
were  intent  on  war  and  plunder,  and  with  them  might 
went  before    right.     Therefore    Numa  was 
grieved,  for  he  wished  to  accustom  the  peo-      .^'"^  sacred 

°  ^  laws. 

pie  to  milder  habits  and  the  fear  of  the  gods, 
and  to  curb  their  spirit  by  the  sacred  laws  of  religion. 
But  the  people  would  not  believe  him  and  mocked  him. 
Then  he  prepared  a  simple  meal,  and  invited  guests  to 
his  house,  and  placed  before  them  plain  food  on  earthen 
plates  and  water  in  stone  bottles.  And  when  they  sat 
down  to  eat  suddenly  ail  the  dishes  were  changed  into 
silver  and  gold,  and  the  plain  food  into  choice  viands 
and  the  water  into  wine.  Then  everyone  knew  that  a 
divine  power  dwelt  in  Numa,  and  they  were  willing  to 
receive  his  statutes.  And  Numa  was  wise  from  his 
youth  upwards,  as  a  sign  of  which  his  hair  was  grey 
from  his  birth,  and  he  was  trained  in  all  the  wisdom  of 
the  Greeks ;  for  Pythagoras,  the  wisest  of  the  Greeks, 
had  instructed  him  ;  and  Egeria,  a  Camena,  that  is  a 
Muse,  taught  him  the  worship  of  the  gods  and  the  duties 
of  a  pious  life.  And  once  he  deceived  Faunus  and 
Picus,  the  prophesying  gods  of  the  wood,  by  wine  which 
he  poured  into  the  spring  from  which  they  drank  ;  and 
he  intoxicated  them  and  bound  them,  till  they  told  him 
the  secret  charms  by  which  they  compelled  Jupiter  to 
reveal  his  will. 


40  Early  Rome.  CH.  in. 

Thus  Numa  was  full  of  all  wisdom,  and  taught  the 
people  which  gods  they  should  worship  and  what  sacred 
rites  they  should  perform  to  obtain  their  favour.  And 
all  bloody  offerings  he  forbade,  permitting  only  simple 
cakes  and  milk  and  other  like  offerings  to  be  presented 
to  the  gods.  Nor  would  he  allow  any  images  to  be  made 
of  the  gods,  for  he  taught  the  people  to  believe  that  the 
gods  had  no  bodies,  and  that  as  pure  spirits  they  per- 
vaded all  nature  and  watched  over  the  destiny  of  men. 
Moreover  he  taught  the  people  w^hat  prayers,  solemn 
words,  and  ceremonies  they  should  employ  in  all  trans- 
actions of  public  and  private  life  ;  and  he  ordained  that 
they  should  not  undertake  anything  important  without 
first  calling  on  the  gods  and  seeking  their  favour. 

Then  Numa  instituted  priests  to  Jupiter,  Mars,  and 
Quirinus.  And  for  the  service  of  Vesta  he  chose  pure 
virgins  who  should  feed  the  sacred  flame  on  her  altar, 
the  common  hearth  of  the  city.  Also,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover the  will  of  the  gods,  he  instituted  the  office  of 
augurs,  and  instructed  them  in  the  science  of  the  flight 
of  the  sacred  birds.  And  he  appointed  many  more 
priests  and  servants  of  the  altars,  and  prescribed  to  each 
what  he  should  do  ;  and,  that  they  might  all  know  what 
w^as  right  in  the  service  of  the  gods,  and  not  from  igno 
ranee  employ  the  wrong  prayers,  or  leave  out  or  neglect 
any  rite  whereby  they  might  incur  the  anger  of  the  gods 
and  suffer  great  punishment,  Numa  w^-ote  all  his  statutes 
in  a  book,  and  handed  it  over  to  Numa  Marcius,  whom 
he  made  chief  "pontifex,''  that  is,  overseer  and  watcher 
over  the  service  of  the  gods. 

Moreover  Numa  encouraged   the  peaceful  arts,  that 

the  people  might  live  by  the  produce  of  their  labour,  and 

not  think  of  robbing  others.     For  this  pur- 

bws^^^'  pose   he    divided   among   the    citizens    the 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  41 

land  which  Romulus  had  conquered,  and  bade  them 
cultivate  it  ;  and  he  consecrated  the  stones  which 
marked  the  boundaries  of  the  fields,  and  erected  an 
altar  on  the  Capitoline  hill  to  Terminus,  the  god  of 
boundaries. 

In  the  same  manner  he  took  care  of  all  artizans  in 
the  town  who  possessed  no  land.  He  divided  them  into 
guilds  and  set  masters  over  them  according  to  each  kind 
of  trade;  and  in  order  that  truth  and  good  faith  might 
be  practised  in  common  intercourse,  and  that  promises 
might  be  kept  as  sacred  as  oaths,  he  founded  the  service 
of  the  gv-.ddess  Fides,  that  is  Faith,  and  built  a  temple  to 
her  on  the  Capitol. 

While  Numa  was  thus  occupied  with  works  of  peace, 
the  weapons  of  war  lay  idle,  and  the  neighbouring  peo- 
ple were  afraid  of  disturbing  the  tranquillity 
of  this  righteous  king.     So  the  gates  of  the         The  peace 

^  '='  °  of  Numa. 

temple  of  Janus  remained  closed,  for  it  was 

the  custom  among  the  Romans  to  open  them   only  in 

time  of  war. 

Thus  the  reign  of  Numa  was  a  time  of  peace  and  hap- 
piness, and  the  gods  testified  their  pleasure  in  the  pious 
king  and  his  people  ;  for  they  guarded  the  country  from 
sickness  and  dearth,  and  blessed  and  prospered  all  that 
the  people  undertook. 

Now  when  Numa  had  become  old  and  weak,  he  died 
without  illness  and  pain,  and  the  Romans  mourned  for 
him  as  for  a  father,  and  buried  him  on  the  hill  Janiculus 
beyond  the  Tiber,  on  that  side  which  lies  towards  the  west. 

After  Numa's  death  the  Romans  chose  for  their  king 
Tullus  Hostilius,  the  grandson  of  Hostus  Hostilius,  who 
fought  in  the  battle  with  the  Sabine,  Mettius      „  „     ^^ 

^        .  ™,         .  ^  Tullus  Hos- 

Curtms.     The  time  of  peace  was  now  at  an       tiiius,  the 
end,  for  Tullus  was  not  like  Numa,  but  like         "^     '"^" 


42  Early  Ro7?ie.  CH.  iii. 

Romulus,  and  he  loved  war  and  the  glory  of  war  beyond 
everything.  Therefore  he  sought  causes  of  dispute 
among  the  neighbours,  for  he  thought  that  in  a  long 
peace  the  Romans  would  grow  effeminate  and  lose  their 
ancient  courage. 

Just  then  it  happened  that  some  Roman  and  Alban 
countrymen  quarrelled  and  charged  each  the  other  with 
robbery.  Therefore  Tullus  sent  "  fetiales," 
Aiba^^'^  or  heralds,  to  Alba,  to  demand   compensa- 

tion for  the  plunder.  The  Albans  likewise 
sent  messengers  to  Rome  to  complain  and  to  insist  on 
justice. 

Then  TuUus  employed  a  stratagem.  He  received  the 
Alban  messengers  with  great  kindness  and  treated 
them  with  such  hospitality  that  they  delayed  the  execu- 
tion of  their  disagreeable  commission.  But  the  Roman 
fetiales,  who  were  sent  to  Alba,  demanded  without 
delay  satisfaction  from  the  Albans,  and  when  this  was 
refused  they  declared  war  in  the  name  of  the  Roman 
people.  When  TuUus  heard  this,  he  asked  the  Alban 
ambassadors  to  deliver  their  message,  and  sent  them 
home  without  giving  satisfaction,  because  the  Albans 
had  first  refused  it,  and  had  thus  provoked  an  unjust 
war.  Now  the  Romans  and  Albans  met  in  the  field. 
The  Albans,  led  by  their  king  Cluilius,  encamped  with 
their  army  on  the  frontier  of  the  Roman  territory,  and 
made  a  deep  trench  round  their  camp.  And  the  trench 
was  called,  for  ever  after,  the  "trench  of  Cluilius."  But 
in  the  following  night  the  king  of  the  Albans  died  ;  and 
they  chose  in  his  place  a  dictator,  whose  name  was 
Mettius  Fufetius. 

Now,  when  Tullus  advanced,  and  the  two  armies 
stood  arrayed  against  one  another,  and  the  bloody  fight 
between  the  kindred  nations    was    about  to  begin,   the 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  43 

leaders   came    forward    and    consulted    to- 

eethcr,  and  determined  to  decide  the  war  by       "^^j^^^?""^^?' 

o  '  •'  andCuriatu.< 

a  single  combat  of  Albans  and  Romans,  lest 
too  much  blood  should  be  spilt.  There  were  by  chance 
in  the  Roman  army  three  brothers  born  at  one  birth, 
and  likewise  in  the  Alban  army  three  brothers  born  at 
one  birth.  These  were  the  sons  of  twin  sisters,  and 
equal  in  age  and  strength.  Therefore  they  were  chosen 
as  the  combatants,  and  the  Romans  and  Albans  bound 
themselves  by  an  oath  that  the  nation  whose  champions 
should  be  victorious  should  rule  over  the  other.  Then 
began  the  fight  between  the  three  Horatii,  the  champions 
of  the  Romans,  and  the  three  Curiatii,  the  champions 
of  the  Albans.  On  the  first  onset  two  of  the  Horatii  fell, 
and  the  three  Curiatii  were  wounded.  Then  the  survi- 
ving Horatius  took  to  flight  and  the  Curiatii  pursued 
him.  But  he  turned  suddenly  around  and  killed  the 
one  of  the  three  who  was  the  most  slightly  wounded  and 
had  hurried  on  before  the  others.  Then  he  ran  towards 
the  second  and  conquered  him  also,  and  at  last  he  killed 
the  third,  who,  on  account  of  his  wounds,  was  but  able 
to  pursue  him  very  slowly.  Then  the  Romans  rejoiced 
and  welcomed  Horatius  as  conqueror,  and  they  col- 
lected the  spoils  of  the  slain  Curiatii  and  carried  them 
before  Horatius  and  led  him  in  triumph  to  Rome. 

When  the  procession  came  near  the  gate  of  the  city, 
the  sister  of  Horatius  went  forth  to  meet  it  She  was 
betrothed  to  one  of  the  Curiatii  who  had  been  killed. 
And  when  she  saw  the  bloody  coat  of  her  lover,  which 
she  herself  had  embroidered,  she  sobbed 
and  moaned,  and  cursed  her  brother.     At  Crime  of 

'  Horatrus. 

this  Horatius  fell  into  a  violent  rage,   and 
drew  his  sword  and  stabbed  his  sister  to  the  heart,  be- 
cause she  had  wept  over  a  fallen  enemy.    But  the  blood 


44  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

of  the  slain  sister  called  for  vengeance,  and  Horatius 
was  accused  before  the  criminal  judges,  who  sentenced 
him  to  death.  The  people,  however,  rejected  the  sen- 
tence of  the  judges  out  of  compassion  for  the  aged 
father  of  Horatius,  who  had  lost  three  of  his  children  in 
one  day,  and  because  they  would  not  see  the  man  led  to 
death  who  had  ventured  his  life  for  the  greatness  of  his 
country,  and  had  gained  the  victory  over  Alba  with  his 
own  hand.  But  to  atone  for  his  crime  Horatius  had  to 
do  pubUc  penance,  to  pass  under  a  yoke,  and  to  offer 
up  expiatory  sacrifices  to  the  spirit  of  his  murdered 
sister.  The  beam  of  the  yoke  under  which  Horatius 
passed  remained  as  a  token  to  the  latest  times  and  was 
called  the  "  sister  beam."  But  the  memory  of  the  hero 
ism  of  Horatius  was  also  preserved  ;  and  the  arms  of 
the  Curiatii  were  hung  up  on  a  pillar  in  the  forum  ;  and 
the  pillar  was  called  the  "  pillar  of  Horatius  "  for  all  time. 
Thus  Alba  became  subject  to  Rome,  and  the  Albans 
were  obliged  to  help  the  Romans  in  their  wars.    But 

Mettius  Fufetius,  the  dictator  of  the  Albans, 
Meu^ur  °^         meditated  treason  and  hoped  to  overthrow 

the  power  of  Rome.  Therefore  when  war 
had  broken  out  between  the  Romans  and  the  Etruscans 
of  Fidenae  and  Veii,  and  when  the  Romans  and  Albans 
were  drawn  up  against  the  enemy,  and  the  battle  was 
raging  fiercely,  Mettius  kept  his  army  back  from  the 
fight,  and  hoped  that  the  Romans  would  be  subdued. 
But  Tullus,  perceiving  the  treason,  bade  his  soldiers  be 
of  good  courage,  and  conquered  the  Etruscans.  And 
when  Mettius  came  to  him  after  the  battle  to  wish  him 
joy  on  account  of  the  victory,  thinking  that  Tullus  had 
not  discovered  his  treachery,  Tullus  ordered  him  to  be 
seized  and  torn  to  pieces  by  the  horses,  as  a  punishment 
for  wavering  in  his  fidelity  between  the   Romans  and 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  45 

their  enemies.      Then  the  Albans  were  disarmed,  and 

TuUus  sent  horsemen  to  Alba,  who  burned 

the  whole  town,  with  the  exception  of  the    Jib^^""""^^'""  °^ 

temples,  and   led  the  inhabitants  away  to 

Rome.     From  that  time  Alba  Longa  was  desokite  ;  but 

the  Albans  became  Romaxi   citizens,  and  their   nobles 

were  received  among  the  patricians,  so  that  Albans  and 

Romans  became  one  people,  as  the  Romans  and  the 

Sabines  had  become  in  the  reign  of  Romulus. 

After  this,  Tullus  waged  many  wars  with  his  neigh- 
bours, the  Etruscans  and  the  Sabines,  and  he  became 
proud  and  haughty,  neglecting  the  gods  and 
their  service,  and  regarding  not  justice  and  wickedness 
the  laws  of  Numa.  Therefore  the  gods  sent 
a  plague  among  the  people,  and  at  last  they  smote  him 
also  with  a  sore  disease.  Then  he  became  aware  that 
he  had  sinned,  and  he  sought  to  find  out  the  will  of 
Jupiter,  according  to  the  spells  of  Numa.  But  Jupiter 
was  wroth,  and  struck  him  with  lightning,  and  destroyed 
his  house  so  that  no  trace  was  left  behind.  Thus  ended 
Tullus  Hostilius  after  he  had  been  king  for  thirty-two 
years;  and  Ancus  Marcius,  the  grandson  of  Numa 
Pompilius,  was  chosen  king  in  his  stead. 

Ancus  was  a  just  and  peaceful  man,  who  made  it  his 
first  care  to  restore  in  its  purity  the  service  of  the  gods. 
For  this  reason  he  caused  the  sacred  laws  of    . 

Ancus  Mar- 

Numa  to  be  written  on  wooden  tablets,  and   cius,  the  fourth 
to  be  exhibited  before  the  people ;   and  he     '"^' 
endeavoured  to  preserve  peace  and  the  peaceful  arts  as 
Numa  had  done,  whose  example  he  wished  to  follow  in 
all  things. 

But  it  was  not  vouchsafed  to  him  always  to  avoid  war. 
For  when  the  Latins  heard  that  Tullus  was  dead,  and 
that  in  his  stead  reigned  a  peace-loving  king,  who  passed 


46  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

La^InT'^^^^^  his  time  quietly  at  home  in  prayer  and 
sacrifice  they  made  a  raid  into  the  country 
of  the  Romans,  and  thought  to  plunder  it  with  im- 
punity. Then  Ancus  left  the  management  of  the  public 
worship  to  the  priests,  and  took  up  arms  and  fought 
with  his  enemies,  and  conquered  their  towns  and  de- 
stroyed them.  And  many  of  the  inhabitants  he  brought 
to  Rome,  and  gave  them  dwellings  on  the  Aventine  hill. 
Therefore  Ancus  enlarged  the  city,  and  dug  a  deep 
trench  in  that  part  where  the  slope  of  the  hills  was  not 
steep  enough  to  protect  Rome  from  her  enemies.  After 
this  he  fortified  the  hill  Janiculus  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Tiber,  and  built  a  wooden  bridge  over  the  river; 
and  he  conquered  all  the  land  between  Rome  and  the 
sea,  and  planted  a  colony  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber, 
which  he  called  Ostia,  and  made  there  a  harbour  for 
sea-going  ships.  And  when  Ancus  had  been  king  for 
four-and-twenty  years  he  died  calmly  and  happily  like 
Numa,  and  the  Romans  honoured  his  memory,  for  he 
was  just  in  time  of  peace,  and  vigorous  and  victorious 
in  war. 

At  the  time  when  Ancus  Marcius  was  king,  there  lived 

in  the  town  of  Tarquinii,  in  the  land  of  the  Etruscans, 

a  rich  and  prudent  man  called  Lucumo,  the 

Lucumo  of        gQj^  Qf  Demaratos,  a  noble  of  the  race'  of 

larquinu. 

the  Bacchiads  of  Corinth,  who  had  been 
driven  by  the  tyrant  Kypselos  out  of  his  native  town  and 
had  fled  to  Etruria.  Now,  because  Lucumo  was  the  son 
of  a  stranger,  the  people  of  Tarquinii  disliked  him  and 
refused  him  a  place  of  honour  in  their  town.  His  wife 
Tanaquil  therefore  advised  him  to  leave  Tarquinii  and 
to  emigrate  to  Rome,  where  strangers  were  kindly  re- 
ceived. Thereupon  Lucumo  set  out  for  Rome.  When 
he  had  come  to  the  hill  Janiculus,  near  the   town,  an 


CH.  III.  Lei(t'nds  of  the  Kings.  47 

eagle  shot  down  from  the  air  and  took  his  hat  from  his 
head  and  flew  away  with  it ;  and  after  wheehng  about 
for  a  time  over  the  carriage  in  which  Lucumo  and  his 
wife  Tanaquil  sat,  the  bird  flew  down  again  and  replaced 
the  hat  on  the  head  of  Lucumo.  Then  Tanaquil,  who 
knew  the  heavenly  signs,  foresav/  that  her  husband  was 
destined  to  attain  high  honours  in  Rome. 

Now  in  Rome,  Lucumo  altered  his  name,  and  called 
himself  Lucius  Tarquinius.  after  his  native  town,  and  he 
was  soon  highly  regarded,   for  he  was  wise       ,     . 

.,  .  11-1  1  •     •  Lucius  Tar- 

m  council,  stout  m  war,  and  kmd  to  his  in-  quinius,  the 
feriors.  For  this  reason  King  Ancus  took  '  '"^' 
him  for  his  counsellor,  confided  to  him  the  most  weighty 
matters,  and  before  he  died  made  him  the  guardian  of 
his  sons.  Then  Tarquinius  contrived  that  the  people 
should  choose  him,  and  not  one  of  the  sons  of  Ancus, 
for  their  king;  and  thus  the  divine  omen  which  Tana- 
quil, his  wife,  had  explaitied  to  him,  was  fulfilled. 

When  Tarquinius  had  become  king,  he  carried  on 
war  with  the  Latins  and  conquered  many  of  their  towns. 
He  made  war  also  on  the  Sabines,  who  had 

,     ,      ,         „  .  ,  ,  Wars  with  the 

invaded  the  Roman  country  with  a  large  Latins  and 
and  powerful  army,  and  had  penetrated  ^  '"^^' 
even  to  the  walls  of  the  city.  And  when  Tarquinius  was 
with  them  and  was  in  great  danger,  he  vowed  a  temple 
to  Jupiter,  and  so  he  overcame  his  enemies.  Then  he 
waged  war  against  the  Etruscans,  and  subdued  the  whole 
land  of  Etruria,  so  that  the  Etruscans  acknowledged 
him  as  their  king  and  sent  him  a  golden  crown,  a  sceptre, 
an  ivory  chair,  an  embroidered  tunic,  a  purple  toga,  and 
twelve  axes  tied  up  in  bundles  of  rods.  Thus  the  em- 
blems of  royal  power  were  brought  to  Rome,  and  were 
displayed  by  the  Roman  kings  as  a  sign  of  their  do- 
minion over  the  people. 


48  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

When  all  enemies   were  conquered,  and  Rome  had 
increased  m  power,  in  size,  and  in  the  number  of  its  citi- 
zens, Tarquinius  determined  to  make  a  new 
The  reforms       division  of  the  people,  and  to  appoint  other 

of  Tarquinius.  r      r     '  rr 

tribes  in  the  place  of  the  Ramnes,  the  Tities, 
and  the  Luceres,  which  Romulus  had  ordained.  But 
the  gods  sent  unfavourable  signs,  and  the  augur  Attus 
Navius  opposed  the  king  and  forbade  any  alteration  of 
the  old  division  of  the  people  against  the  will  of  the 
gods.  Then  Tarquinius  thought  to  mock  and  to  humble 
the  augur,  and  bade  him  consult  the  sacred  birds,  whe- 
ther what  he  then  purposed  in  his  mind  could  come  to 
pass.  And  when  Attus  Navius  had  consulted  the  birds 
and  had  obtained  an  answer  that  the  king's  wish  should 
be  done,  Tarquinius  gave  him  a  whetstone  and  a  razor, 
and  said,  "This  is  what  I  purposed  in  my  mind;  you 
shall  cut  through  the  stone  with  this  knife."  Then  Attus 
cut  the  stone  through  with  the  knife  and  compelled  Tar- 
quinius to  give  up  his  intentions.  But  the  knife  and  the 
stone  were  buried  in  the  Forum,  and  hard  by  the  spot  a 
statue  of  Attus  Navius  was  set  up  to  commemorate  the 
miracle  which  he  wrought. 

As  Tarquinius  could  not  alter  the  name  of  the  old 
tribes  nor  increase  their  number,  he  doubled  the  num- 
ber of  the  noble  houses  in  each  tribe,  and  called  those 
which  he  now  admitted  the  younger  houses  of  the 
Ramnes,  the  Tities,  and  the  Luceres.  He  doubled  also 
the  number  of  the  knights  and  of  the  senate,  so  that  the 
division  of  the  people  which  Romulus  had  made  and 
the  old  names  remained  unaltered,  except  that  in  each 
division  the  number  of  the  houses  was  doubled. 

Now,  to  fulfil  the  vow  that  he  had  made  in  the  war 
with  the  Sabines,  Tarquinius  began  to  build  a  temple  to 
Jupiter  on  the  Capitoline  hill.     For  this  he  levelled  a 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  49 

place  on  the  hill  to  lay  the  foundation   of  the  temple. 
And  as  they  were  digging  they  found  a  hu-    ^       ,     ^ 

^  00      o  y  Temple  of 

m^n  head.  This  was  interpreted  as  a  sign  Jupiter  on  the 
that  that  place  should  be  the  head  of  all  the  ^^''°  ' 
earth.  And  the  old  sanctuaries  which  stood  in  the  place 
where  the  temple  of  Jupiter  was  to  be  built  were  trans- 
ferred to  other  places,  according  to  the  sacred  rites  which 
the  pontifices  prescribed.  But  the  altars  of  the  god  of 
youth  and  of  the  god  of  boundaries  could  not  be  trans- 
ferred. So  they  had  to  be  left  in  their  places,  and  were 
inclosed  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter,  and  this  was  a  sign 
that  the  boundary  line  of  the  Roman  commonwealth 
should  never  recede  and  that  its  youth  would  be  ever- 
lasting. 

Moreover,  Tarquinius  built  large  sewers  underground, 
and  drained  the  lower  valleys  of  the  city  which  lay  be- 
tween the  hills,  and  which  till  then  were 
marshy    and   uninhabitable.      And    in    the  The  great 

•'  sewer, 

valley  between  the  Capitoline  and  the  Pala-  forum,  and 
tine  hills  he  laid  out  the  forum  for  a  market- 
place, and  surrounded  it  with  covered  walks  and  booths. 
He  drained  also  the  valley  of  Murcia,  between  the 
Aventine  and  the  Palatine,  and  there  he  levelled  a  race- 
course, and  introduced  games  like  those  of  the  Etruscans, 
which  he  celebrated  every  year,  and  called  the  "  Ro- 
man "  games.  Thus  Tarquinius  reigned  for  thirty-seven 
years  and  gained  great  renown  in  peace  and  in  war. 

Among  the  servants  of  King  Tarquinius  was  a  virgin 
called  Ocrisia,  who  watched  the  holy  fire  sacred  to  the 
household   god.     Once,  as  she  sat   by  the    ,,. 

°  ■^  Miraculous 

hearth,    the   god   appeared    to    her   in    the    birth  of  Ser- 

n  A   r  1-111  1    •  vius   Tullius. 

flame.     After  a  while  she  bore  hmi  a  son, 

who  grew  up  in  the  house  of  the  king,  and  they  called 

him  Servius,  because  he  was  the  son  of  a  slave.     One 


5o  Early  Rome.  CH.  iil. 

day,  when  the  boy  had  fallen  asleep  in  a  chamber  in  the 
king's  house,  a  flame  played  about  his  head  till  he 
awoke.  And  Tanaquil,  the  king's  wife,  saw  from  this 
that  Servius  was  destined  for  great  things.  Therefore, 
when  he  was  grown  up  to  manhood,  Tarquinius  gave 
him  his  daughter  in  marriage,  and  intrusted  to  him  the 
most  important  business  of  state,  so  that  Servius  was  in 
the  highest  repute  among  the  elders,  as  well  as  among 
the  people.  When  this  became  known  to  the  sons  of 
King  Ancus,  who  were  wroth  with  Tarquinius  because 
he  had  deprived  them  of  their  paternal  heritage,  they 
were  afraid  that  Tarquinius  would  make  Servius  his  suc- 
cessor. Therefore  they  resolved  to  have  their  revenge, 
and  they  hired  two  murderers,  who  came  to  the  king 
disguised  as  shepherds,  and  said  that  they  had  a  dis- 
pute and  that  the  king  should  judge  between  them. 
Now,  as  they  were  wrangling  with  one  another,  and 
Tarquinius  was  attending  to  what  one  of  them  was  say- 
ing, the  other  struck  him  with  an  axe,  and  they  both 
took  to  flight. 

While  the  king  lay  in  his  blood,  a  noise  and  tumult 
arose  in  the  town,  and  Tanaquil  ordered  the  gates  of  the 
royal  house  to  be  shut,  to  keep  out  the  people.  And 
she  spoke  to  them  out  of  an  upper  window,  and  said 
that  the  king  was  not  dead,  but  only  wounded,  and  had 
ordered  that  Servius  should  reign  in  his  stead  until  he 
had  recovered.  Therefore  Servius  filled  the  king's 
place,  and  sat  as  judge  on  the  royal  throne,  conducting 
all  affairs  as  the  king  himself  was  wont  to  do.  But  when 
it  became  known,  after  some  days,  that  Tarquinius  had 
died,  Servius  did  not  resign  the  royal  power,  but  contin- 
ued to  rule  for  a  time,  without  being  appointed  by  the 
people  and  without  the  consent  of  the  senate.  Then 
after  he  had  won  over  a  large  number  of  the  people  by 


CH.  III.  Lege tids  of  the  Kings.  51 

all  kinds  of  promises  and  by  grants  of  land,  he  held  an 
assembly  and  persuaded  the  people  to  choose  him  for 
their  king. 

Thus  Servius  Tullius  became  king  of  Rome,  and  he 
ruled  with  clemency  and  justice.  He  loved  peace,  like 
his    predecessors   Numa   and   Ancus,    and    ^     .    ^  „. 

'  bervius  iullius 

waged  no  wars,  except  with  the  Etruscans,  the  sixth 
These  he  compelled  to  be  subject  to  him,  '"^' 
as  they  had  been  to  King  Tarquinius  before  him.  But 
with  the  Latins  he  made  a  treaty,  that  the  Romans 
and  the  Latins  should  live  always  in  friendship  with  one 
another.  And  as  a  sign  of  this  union,  the  Romans  and 
the  Latins  built  a  temple  to  Diana  on  the  Aventine, 
where  they  celebrated  their  common  festivals,  and 
offered  up  sacrifices  every  year  for  Rome  and  for  the 
whole  of  Latium. 

Then  Servius  built  a  strong  wall  from  the  Ouirinal  to 
the  Esquiline,  and  made  a  deep  trench  and  added  the 
Esquiline  to  the  town,  so  that  all  the  seven  hills  were 
united  and  formed  one  city.  This  city  he  divided  into 
four  parts,  which  he  called  tribes,  after  the  old  division 
of  the  people  ;  and  he  divided  the  land  round  about  the 
city  into  twenty-six  districts,  and  ordered  common  sanc- 
tuaries and  holy  days,  and  appointed  chief  men  over  the 
inhabitants  of  the  districts  which  he  had  made. 

Now,  as  Servius  was  the  son  of  a  bondmaid,  he  was  a 
friend  of  the  poor  and  of  the  lower  classes,  and  he  es- 
tablished equitable  laws  and  ordinances  to  protect  the 
common  people  against  the  powerful.  Therefore  the 
commons  honoured  him  and  called  him  the  good  king 
Servius,  and  they  celebrated  the  day  of  his  birth  as  an 
annual  festival.  But  the  greatest  work  that  Servius  did 
was  to  make  a  new  division  of  the  people,  according  to 
the  order  of  the  fighting  men,  as  they  were  arranged  in 


52  Early  Rome.  CH.  in. 

the  field  of  battle,  and  as  they  voted  in  the  assembly  of 
citizens  when  the  king  consulted  them  concerning  peace 
or  war,  or  laws,  or  elections,  or  other  weighty  matters 
For  this  purpose  Servius  divided  the  whole  people  of 
^,  the  patricians  and  the   plebeians  into  five 

The  centuriate 

assembly  of  classcs,  accordmg  to  their  property,  with- 
e  peop  e.  ^^^^  regard  to  blood  or  descent,  so  that  from 
that  time  forward  the  three  tribes  of  Romulus — the 
Ramnes,  the  Titles,  and  the  Luceres — and  their  thirty 
curies,  formed  no  longer  the  principal  assembly  of  citi- 
ens,  but  lost  their  power  in  most  matters  that  affected 
the  government. 

The  first  class  Servius  made  to  consist  of  forty  centu- 
ries of  the  younger  men,  who  were  under  forty-six  years 
of  age,  and  of  forty  centuries  of  the  older  ;  the  latter  for 
the  defence  of  the  town,  the  former  for  service  in  the 
field.  The  second,  third,  and  fourth  classes  he  divided 
each  into  twenty  centuries,  ten  of  the  older  men,  and 
ten  of  the  younger.  But  he  made  the  fifth  class  stronger, 
for  he  gave  it  thirty  centuries,  fifteen  of  the  older  men 
and  fifteen  of  the  younger  And  the  arming  of  the  centu- 
ries was  not  the  same  in  all  the  five  classes,  for  only  the 
men  of  the  first  class  wore  complete  armour,  composed 
of  breast  plate,  helmet,  shield  and  greaves,  with  javelin, 
lance,  and  sword.  The  second  class  fought  without  the 
breast-plate  and  with  a  lighter  shield.  The  third  with- 
out the  greaves,  and  so  on,  so  that  the  men  of  the  fifth 
class  were  but  lightly  armed.  Now,  as  the  citizens  had 
to  procure  their  own  equipment  for  war,  and  as  the  com- 
plete armour  was  very  costly,  Servius  chose  for  the  first 
class  only  the  richest  citizens  whose  property  was  esti- 
mated at  more  than  a  hundred  thousand  as^es,  that  is 
pounds  of  copper.  The  assessment  for  each  of  the  fol- 
lowing classes  was  twenty-five  thousand  asses  less,  so 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  53 

that  in  the  fifth  class  were  those  citizens  who  were  as- 
sessed at  less  than  twenty-five  thousand  asses.  But 
those  who  had  less  than  eleven  thousand  asses,  Servius 
arranged  in  no  class  at  all,  but  made  of  them  a  separate 
century — the  century  of  the  Proletarians — and  these  he 
exempted  from  all  military  service. 

Thus  Servius  arranged  the  infantry  in  170  centuries, 
and  for  the  horse  he  took  the  six  double  centuries  of 
horsemen  which  Tarquinius  had  estkblished,  and  to 
them  he  added  twelve  new  centuries,  chosen  out  of  the 
richest  families.  The  horsemen  consisted  all  of  younger 
men,  for  they  had  to  fight  only  in  the  field. 

Moreover,  as  it  was  necessary  to  have  trumpeters, 
armourers,  and  carpenters  in  the  army,  Servius  made 
four  centuries  of  them,  so  that  altogether  193  centuries 
were  formed. 

Such  was  the  military  order  of  the  people.  When 
they  assembled  for  making  laws  or  for  elections,  they 
observed  the  same  order,  each  century  having  a  vote  ; 
and  the  chief  influence  was  in  the  hands  of  the  wealth- 
iest, who  formed  the  eighty  centuries  of  the  first  class, 
and  the  eighteen  centuries  of  knights.  But  the  poorer, 
people,  although  much  more  numerous,  had  but  few 
votes.  Thus  their  influence  in  the  assembly  was  small, 
and  the  greatest  number  had  not  the  greatest  power. 
Nor  was  this  arrangement  unjust,  for  the  rich  provided 
themselves  with  heavy  armour  and  fought  in  the  fore- 
most rank,  and  when  a  war  tax  was  laid  on,  they  con- 
tributed in  proportion  to  their  property.  And  Servius 
showed  his  wisdom  especially  in  this,  that  in  the  assem- 
bly of  citizens  he  placed  the  older  men  and  the  younger 
on  an  equality  in  the  number  of  their  votes,  although 
there  were  fewer  of  the  older,  according  to  the  nature  of 
things.     For  he  wished  that  the  experience  and  modera- 


34  Early  Rome.  CH.  in. 

tion  of  the  older  citizens  should  restrain  the  rashness  of 
the  younger.  In  this  manner  the  people  were  arranged 
as  an  army  for  the  protection  of  their  country,  and  at 
the  same  time  as  an  assembly  of  citizens,  to  decide  all 
matters  which  concerned  the  well-being  of  the  city  ; 
and  no  man  was  entirely  shut  out  from  the  common- 
wealth, but  to  each  were  assigned  such  burdens  and 
services  as  he  might  be  able  to  bear,  and  such  a  measure 
of  rights  and  privileges  as  was  just.  The  order  of  cen- 
turies which  Servius  Tullius  had  made  remained  for 
many  ages  the  foundation  of  the  Roman  commonwealth ; 
and  although,  in  the  course  of  time,  it  was  altered  in 
many  ways,  it  was  never  entirely  abolished,  so  long  as 
the  people  of  Rome  retained  their  freedom. 

Servius  Tullius  had  two  daughters  ;  of  whom  one  was 
good  and  gentle,  and  the  other  haughty,  imperious,  and 
heartless.  In  like  manner  Aruns  and  Lu- 
King  cius,  the  two  sons  of  the  elder  Tarquinius, 

Servius.  were   of  different   character  ;   the  one  was 

good-tempered,  and  the  other  was  vicious  and  violent. 
These  sons  of  Tarquin  Servius  Tullius  married  to  his 
own  daughters,  and  thinking  to  soften  the  hearts  of  the 
wicked  by  the  gentleness  of  the  good,  he  gave  to  the 
wicked  Lucius  the  sweet  TuUia  to  wife,  and  the  proud 
Tullia  he  married  to  the  good-natured  Aruns. 

But  matters  turned  out  differently  from  what  Servius 
had  expected.  The  wicked  ones  longed  for  each  others' 
company,  and  they  despised  their  amiable  consorts  as 
weak  and  mean-spirited.  Therefore  the  bad  Lucius 
murdered  his  wife  and  his  brother,  and  he  took  to  wife 
the  daughter  of  Servius  who  had  a  like  disposition  to  his 
own.  So  the  two  evil  ones  were  married  and  excited 
one  another  to  new  enormities,  for  they  desired  to 
possess  power,  and  by  practising  deceit  and  cunning 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  55 

they  made  for  themselves  a  party  among  the  nobles  and 
those  of  the  people  who  were  the  enemies  of  Servius  on 
account  of  his  new  laws. 

Now  when  everything  was  prepared,  Lucius  Tarquin- 
ius  entered  the  market-place,  clothed  in  the  royal  robes, 
and,  surrounded  by  a  band  of  armed  men,  summoned 
the  senators  to  appear  before  him,  and  harangued  them 
as  king.  At  the  report  of  this  usurpation,  Servius  was 
alarmed  and  hurried  to  the  spot,  and  there  arose  a 
quarrel  in  the  senate-house  between  him  and  his  son  in- 
law. Then  Tarquinius  seized  the  old  man,  and  cast  him 
down  the  steps  of  the  senate-house,  and  sent  after  him 
men  who  overtook  him  on  his  way  to  his  own  house, 
and  slew  him  in  the  street.  But  the  wicked  TuUia,  the 
daughter  of  Servius,  full  of  joy  at  what  had  happened, 
hurried  to  the  market-place  in  her  carria^re,  and  wel- 
comed her  husband  as  king.  And  as  she  was  returning 
through  the  street  where  her  father  lay  dead,  she  ordered 
the  driver  not  to  turn  the  horses  aside,  but  to  drive  on 
over  the  corpse  of  her  father,  so  that  the  carriage  and 
her  dress  were  spattered  with  his  blood. 

Thus  Tarquinius  gained  the  royal  power  without  the 
consent   of  the    senate,  and  without   the  choice  of  the 
people ;  and  as  he  had  acquired  it  so  he  ex- 
ercised it,  so  that  the  people  called  him  the    quinius,  the 
Haughty,    and   hated    him    as   long   as   he    ^^^enthking. 
lived.     For   he  regarded  not  the  laws  and   ordinances 
of  good  king  Servius,  nor  did  he  summon  the  senate  for 
counsel,  but   reigned   according   to   his   own    will,  and 
oppressed  the   people,  both  high  and  low.     Moreover, 
he   surrounded   himself  with    a   body-guard,    after   the 
custom    of  the   Greek   tyrants ;    and   those    among  the 
citizens  who  were  against   him,   or  whose  wealth   pro- 
voked his  avarice,  he  punished,  upon  false  accusation, 


56  Early  Rome.  CH.  in. 

either  inflicting  heavy  fines,  or  driving  them  into  exile, 
or  putting  them  to  death  ;  but  the  poor  he  compelled  to 
work  at  his  buildings,  and  made  them  serve  like  slaves 
beyond  their  strength,  so  that  many  kill^  themselves 
out  of  despair. 

After  Tarquinius  had  established  his  power  in  Rome, 
he  turned  against  the  Latins  ;  and  on  those  who  would 

not  willingly  submit  he  waged  war,  and 
Gabii"^^^°^       made   them   subject    to   himself.     But  the 

people  of  Gabii  resisted  manfully,  and  he 
could  not  prevail  against  them.  Then  his  son  Sextus 
devised  this  stratagem.  He  went  to  Gabii,  as  if  he  were 
flying  from  his  father,  and  showed  his  back  covered 
with  bloody  stripes,  and  begged  the  people  of  Gabii, 
with  supplications  and  tears,  to  protect  him  from  his 
father,  and  to  receive  him  into  their  town.  Thus  the 
people  of  Gabii  were  deceived,  and  they  trusted  his 
words,  and  befriended  him,  and  made  him  the  com- 
mander of  a  company  of  soldiers.  But  the  Romans 
fled  when  Sextus  led  the  men  of  Gabii,  for  this  had  been 
agreed  upon  between  Sextus  and  his  father.  So  when 
Sextus  had  thus  gained  the  confidence  of  the  Gabine 
people  and  had  been  entrusted  with  the  chief  command, 
he  sent  a  messenger  to  his  father  to  know  what  he 
should  do.  The  king  was  walking  in  his  pleasure- 
grounds  when  the  messenger  came,  and,  instead  of 
giving  him  an  answer  in  words,  he  struck  off  with  his 
stick  the  tallest  poppies  and  sent  the  man  back.  Sextus 
understood  the  meaning  of  his  father's  reply,  and  began 
to  bring  false  charges  against  the  first  and  noblest  of 
the  men  of  Gabii,  and  so  caused  them  to  be  put  to  death  ; 
and  when  he  had  done  this,  he  surrendered  the  helpless 
town  to  his  father. 

Now   in   order   to   strengthen   his  power,  Tarquinius 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  57 

united  himself  to  Octavius  Mamilius,  who  reigned  in 
Tusculum,  and  gave  him  his   daughter  to 
wife ;  and  he  estabhshed  the  festival  of  the      mem  of 
Latin  games,  which  were  solemnized  every      po°v"^?"over 
year,  on   the  Alban   hill   at   the  temple  of      Latium. 
Jupiter  Latiaris,  for  all  the  Latin  cities.     After  this  he 
waged  war   on  the  Volscians,  a   powerful  people  who 
lived   in   the    south  of  Latium,  and  conquered  Suessa 
Pometia,   their  greatest   and   richest  town.      With  the 
spoils  thus  obtained  he  finished  the  temple  of  Jupiter  on 
the  Capitol,  which  his  father  had  begun,  and  the  great 
sewers,    and  the    Forum    or    market-place.      He    also 
adorned  the  town   with  many  other  buildings,   for   he 
loved  pomp  and  splendour,  and  he  thought  by  his  great 
extravagance  and  by  compulsory  labour  to  make  the 
people  poor  and  helpless,  that  he  might  govern  them 
more  easily. 

Now,  when  he  was  in  full  possession  of  power  there 
appeared  one  day  before  him  a  strange  woman,  who 
offered  for  sale  nine  books  of  divine  prophe-     ^     , 

^       ^  Purchase  of 

cies,  which  the  inspired  Sibyl  of  Cumae  had  the  Sibylline 
written  on  loose  leaves.  But,  because  she 
asked  a  high  price,  Tarquinius  laughed  at  her  and  let 
her  go.  Then  the  woman  burnt  three  of  the  books  be- 
fore his  eyes,  and  returned  and  offered  to  sell  the  other 
six  for  the  same  price  which  she  had  at  first  asked  for 
the  nine.  But  Tarquinius  laughed  at  her  still  more,  and 
thought  she  was  mad.  Then  she  burnt  three  more  of 
the  books,  and  offered  the  last  three  for  the  original  price. 
Thereupon  Tarquinius  began  to  reflect  seriously,  and  he 
felt  persuaded  that  the  woman  was  sent  to  him  by  the 
gods  and  he  bought  the  books  In  this  manner  the  king 
obtained  the  Sibylline  prophecies,  and  he  carefully  pre- 
served them  and  appointed  two  men  who  knew  the  Ian- 


58  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

guage  of  the  Greeks,  in  which  the  books  were  written, 
to  take  charge  of  them,  and  to  consult  them  in  time  of 
great  danger,  or  dearth  or  pestilence,  to  the  end  that  the 
will  of  the  gods  might  be  known,  and  that  their  wrath 
might  be  averted  from  the  people. 

Up  to  this  time  Tarquinius  had  been  always  fortunate 

in  his  undertakings,  and  he  became  ever  more  and  more 

haughty  and  cruel.  But  when  he  had  grown 

Message  to       q\^  j^g  ^y^s  frightened  bv  dreams  and  won- 

Delphi.  ° 

derful  signs,  and  he  determined  to  consult 
the  oracle  of  the  Greeks  at  Delphi.  So  he  sent  his  two 
sons  to  Delphi,  and  with  them  Junius,  his  sister's  son, 
who  on  account  of  his  silliness  was  called  Brutus.  But 
the  silliness  of  Brutus  was  only  assumed  to  deceive  the 
tyrant,  who  was  an  enemy  of  all  wdse  men,  because  he 
feared  them.  Now  when  the  king's  sons  brought  costly 
presents  to  the  Delphian  god,  Brutus  gave  only  a  simple 
staff.  His  cousins  laughed  at  him,  but  they  did  not 
know  that  the  staff  was  hollowed  out  and  filled  with  gold. 
After  they  had  executed  the  commission  of  their  father, 
they  asked  the  god  to  tell  them  who  would  reign  in  Rome 
after  Tarquinius.  And  the  answer  of  the  oracle  was, 
that  he  should  reign  who  should  first  kiss  his  mother. 
Then  the  two  brothers  agreed  to  draw  lots  which  of  them 
should  first  kiss  his  mother  on  their  return.  But  Brutus 
perceived  the  real  meaning  of  the  oracle,  and  when  they 
had  left  the  temple,  he  pretended  to  stumble,  and  fell 
down  and  kissed  the  ground,  for  the  earth,  he  thought, 
was  the  common  mother  of  all  men. 

Now  when  Tarquinius  had  reigned  twenty-four  years, 
it  came  to  pass  that  he  besieged  Ardea,  the  town  of  the 
Sextus'  out-  Rutuh,  in  Latium;  and  one  evening,  when 
rage  on  ^j^g  kind's  sons  werc  supping  with  their  cdu- 

Lucretia.  .      ^     ^     .    .        ^    ,,      •  ,       ,■        ,  •      ^    , 

sm  Tarqumms  Collatmus,  who  lived  m  Col- 


CH.  III.  Legends  of  tJie  Kings.  59 

latia,  they  talked  of  their  wives,  and  each  praised  the 
virtue  and  thriftiness  of  his  own  wife.  Thereupon  they 
agreed  to  go  and  see  which  of  the  ladies  deserved  the 
highest  praise.  Without  delay  they  mounted  their  horses 
and  galloped  quickly  to  Rome,  and  then  to  Collatia,  to 
take  the  ladies  by  surprise.  They  found  the  daughters- 
in-law  of  the  king  enjoying  themselves  at  a  feast;  but 
Lucretia,  the  wife  of  CoUatinus,  they  found  sitting  up 
late  at  night  with  her  maids  busy  with  household  work. 
Therefore  Lucretia  was  acknowledged  to  be  the  matron 
most  worthy  of  praise. 

But  Sextus  Tarquinius.  when  he  had  seen  Lucretia, 
conceived  a  base  design  and  came  again  one  evening 
alone  to  Collatia.  Having  been  kindly  received  and  led 
to  his  chamber,  he  rose  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  when 
everyone  was  asleep  in  the  house,  and  came  into  Lucre- 
tia's  chamber  and  surprised  her  alone.  And  when  she 
refused  to  yield  herself  to  him,  he  threatened  to  slay  her 
and  to  put  a  murdered  slave  to  lie  beside  her,  and  then 
to  tell  her  husband  that  he  had  found  her  in  adultery. 
Then  Lucretia  resisted  no  longer ;  and  the  next  morn- 
ing Sextus  went  away  and  returned  to  the  camp  before 
Ardea, 

But  Lucretia  sent  messengers  to  Rome  and  to  Ardea 
to  fetch  her  father  Lucretius  and  her  husband  CoUatinus. 
These  two  hastened  to  Collatia,  and  with  them  came 
Junius  Brutus  and  the  noble  Publius  Valerius  Poplicola, 
and  they  found  Lucretia  in  her  room  clothed  in  mourn- 
ing. When  they  were  all  collected  together,  Lucretia  told 
them  of  the  deed  of  Sextus,  and  of  the  shame  brought 
upon  her,  and  she  made  the  men  swear  that  they  would 
avenge  her.  And  when  she  had  ended  her  words  she 
drew  a  knife  and  plunged  it  into  her  heart  and  died. 

Then  the  men  were  overwhelmed  with  grief,  and  they 


6o  Early  Rome.  ch.  hi. 

carried  her  corpse  to  the  market-place,  and  told  the  peo* 
pie  what  had  happened  and  sent  messengers  with  the 
news  to  the  army  before  Ardea.  But  Brutus  assembled 
the  people  together,  and  spoke  to  them,  and  called  upon 

them  to  resist  the  tyrant.  And  the  people 
the  king  and  determined  to  expel  King  Tarquinius  and 
of  SfrepuT  his  whole  house,  to  abolish  the  regal  power, 
^^^-  and   to  suffer  no  king  any  more  in  Rome. 

In  the  place  of  a  king  they  chose  two  men  who  should 
rule  for  one  year,  and  should  be  called  not  kings  but 
consuls  ;  and  for  the  management  of  the  sacrifices  which 
the  king  had  to  offer,  they  chose  a  priest,  w-ho  should  be 
called  the  king  of  sacrifices,  but  should  have  no  power 
in  the  state,  and  should  be  subject  to  the  high  pontiff. 
Otherwise  they  altered  nothing  in  the  laws  and  ordinan- 
ces of  the  state,  but  they  let  them  all  remain  as  they  had 
been  during  the  time  of  the  kings.  For  the  first  consuls 
they  chose  Lucius  Junius  Brutus,  and  Lucius  Tarquinius 
Collatinus.  Then  they  shut  the  gates  against  Tarquinius, 
and  the  Roman  army  before  Ardea  abandoned  the  hated 
king  and  w^ent  back  to  Rome.  Thus  the  death  of  Lucre- 
tia  was  avenged,  and  Rome  became  a  free  city  after  it  had 
been  subject  to  kings  for  two  hundred  and  forty  years. 

But  the  wicked  Tarquin  did  not  give  up  all  hope  of 
regaining  his  power.   He  had  still  a  strong  party  in  Rome 

especially  among  the  younger  patricians. 
fo?"the"resto-  Therefore  he  sent  messengers  to  Rome  on 
ration  of  the      ^-j^g  p^g^  of  asking  the  people  to  give  up  his 

movable  property.  But  the  messengers  se- 
cretly consulted  with  his  adherents  how  the  king  could 
be  brought  back  to  Rome.  Now  one  day,  when  the 
conspirators  were  conferring  privately  together,  they 
were  overheard  by  a  slave,  who  betrayed  them  to  the 
consuls.  Wherefore  they  were  all  seized  and  thrown  into 


CH.  Ill  Legends  of   the  Kings.  6i 

prison.     But  the  slave  was  rewarded  with  freedom  and 
the  Roman  citizenship. 

Then  Brutus,  who  was  consul  with  Tarquinius  Colla- 
tinus,  showed  how  a  true  Roman  must  love  his  country- 
more  than  his  own  blood.     For  when  it  was 
found  that  his  two  sons  were  amongr  those    J^^  P?i.'"°^- 

/^  ism  of  Brutus. 

who  wished  to  bring  Tarquin  and  his  family 
back  to  Rome,  he  condemned  them  to  death  as  traitors, 
even  as  he  condemned  the  other  conspirators,  and  did 
not  ask  mercy  for  them  of  the  people,  but  had  the  youths 
bound  to  the  stake  before  his  eyes,  and  gave  orders  to 
the  lictor  to  scourge  them  and  to  cut  off  their  heads  with 
the  axe.  The  people  were  now  still  more  embittered 
against  the  banished  Tarquins,  and  the  senate  declined 
to  give  up  their  goods,  and  divided  them  among  the  peo- 
ple. But  the  field  between  the  town  and  the  Tiber,  which 
belonged  to  the  Tarquins  and  was  sown  with  corn,  they 
consecrated  to  the  god  Mars,  and  called  it  the  field  of 
Mars,  and  the  corn  they  caused  to  be  cut  and  thrown 
into  the  Tiber.  It  drifted  down  the  bed  of  the  river  to  a 
shallow  place,  where  it  became  fixed ;  and  as,  in  the 
course  of  time,  mud  and  earth  collected  there,  an  island 
was  formed  in  the  river,  which  was  afterwards  surrounded 
by  embankments  and  walls,  so  that  large  buildings  and 
temples  could  be  erected  on  it. 

Now  after  the  conspiracy  had  been  discovered  and 
punished,  the  senate  and  the  people  made  a  law  that  all 
who  were  of  the  Tarquinian  race  should  be 

.  1       1,     1  ,,  Banishment  of 

banished  for  ever;  and  all  the  secret  adhe-  the  house  of 
rents  of  the  royal  party  left  the  town,  and  '^^  Tarquinii. 
joined  the  expelled  king.  But  Tarquinius  Collatinus, 
who  was  consul  with  Brutus,  was  a  friend  of  the  people 
and  an  enemy  of  the  tyrant  and  his  house,  on  account 
of  the  shame  which  Sextus  Tarquinius  had  brought  upon 

F 


62  Early  Rovie.  CH.  iii. 

Lucretia  his  wife.  But  as  he  was  of  the  race  of  the  Tar- 
quins,  he  obeyed  the  law,  laid  down  his  office,  and  went 
into  exile,  and  the  people  chose  Publius  Valerius  to  be 
consul  in  his  place. 

Now  when  the  plan  of  Tarquinius  to  regain  his  do- 
minion by  cunning  and  fraud  had  been  defeated,    he 
went  to  the  town  of  Tarquinii  in  the  land 

War    with  -     ,         ^  i  •    i  i         i  c 

Tarquinii  of  the  Etruscans,  which  was  the  home  of 

his  father,  and  he  moved  the  people  of 
Tarquinii  and  of  Veii  to  make  Avar  upon  Rome.  Then 
the  Romans  marched  out  against  the  Etruscans,  and 
fought  with  them  near  the  wood  Arsia.  And  in  the 
battle  Aruns,  the  son  of  Tarquinius,  saw  Brutus  at  the 
head  of  the  Roman  army,  and  thinking  to  revenge 
himself  upon  the  enemy  of  his  house,  he  put  spurs  to  his 
horse,  and  ran  against  him  with  his  spear.  When  Brutus 
saw  him,  he  did  the  same,  and  each  pierced  the  other 
through  the  body  with  his  spear,  so  that  both  fell  down 
dead  from  their  horses.  But  the  battle  was  fierce  and 
bloody,  and  lasted  until  the  evening  without  being  de- 
cided. And  in  the  night,  when  both  armies  were  en- 
camped on  the  field  of  battle,  the  voice  of  the  god  Sil- 
vanus  was  heard  coming  out  of  the  wood,  saying  that 
the  Romans  had  conquered,  for  among  the  Etruscans 
one  man  more  was  slain  than  among  the  Romans. 
Then  the  Etruscans  went  away  to  their  homes,  and  the 
Romans  also  marched  home,  taking  the  body  of  Brutus 
with  them,  and  the  Roman  matrons  mourned  for  him  a 
whole  year,  because  he  had  so  bravely  avenged  the 
wrongs  of  Lucretia, 

Thereupon  Tarquin  the  tyrant  betook  himself  to  CIu- 
War  with  sium,  to  King  Porsenna,  who  ruled  over  all 

Porsenna  ^iig    Etruscaus,    and    he    implored    help    of 

of  Clusium.  ^  ^ 

him    ajrainst  the  Romans.     Then  Porsenna 


c^H.  III.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  63 

collected  a  powerful  army,  and  marched  against  Rome 
to  restore  Tarquin  to  his  kingdom.  And  coming  on  sud- 
denly he  took  the  hill  Janiculus,  which  lies  on  the  right 
side  of  the  Tiber,  opposite  the  Capitol,  and  drove  the 
Romans  down  the  hill  toward  the  river.  Then  the 
Romans  were  seized  with  great  fear,  and  did  not  venture 
to  oppose  the  enemy,  and  to  defend  the  entrance  of  the 
bridge,  but  they  fled  across  the  bridge  back  into  the 
city.  When  Horatius,  who  was  surnamed 
Codes,   or  the    "one-eyed,"    saw  this,   he  ScS!"^ 

placed  himself  opposite  to  the  enemy,  at  the 
entrance  of  the  bridge,  while  two  warriors  who  were  called 
Laitius  and  Herminius,  stayed  by  his  side.  These  three 
men  stirred  not  from  the  place,  but  fought  alone  with 
the  whole  army  of  the  Etruscans,  and  held  their  post, 
while  the  Romans  broke  down  the  bridge  behind  them. 
And  when  only  a  few  planks  were  left,  Lartius  and 
Herminius  hurried  back,  but  Horatius  would  not  move 
until  the  whole  was  broken  down,  and  fell  into  the 
river.  Then  he  turned  round  and  with  his  arms  upon 
him  just  as  he  was,  sprang  into  the  Tiber  and  swam  back 
unhurt.  Thus  Horatius  saved  Rome  from  the  Etrus- 
cans, and  the  Romans  rejoiced  and  led  him  in  triumph 
into  the  city,  and  afterwards  they  erected  a  monument 
to  him  on  the  Comitium,  and  gave  him  as  much  land  as 
he  could  plough  in  one  day. 

Meanwhile,  the  town  was  hard  pressed  by  Porsenna, 
and  there  arose  a  famine  in  Rome,  and  the  people  were 
driven  to  despair.     Then  Mucins,  a  noble 
Roman,  determined  to  kill  King  Porsenna,  sJaelda. 

and  he  went  into  the  Etruscan  camp,  even 
into  the  king's  tent.  But,  as  he  did  not  know  the  king,  he 
slew  the  treasurer,  who  sat  near  him,  distributing  the  pay 
to  the  soldiers.     And  he  was  seized  and  threatened  with 


64  Early  Rome.  CH.  iii. 

death.  Then  to  show  that  he  was  not  afraid  of  death 
he  stretched  out  his  right  hand  into  the  fire  which  was 
burning  on  an  altar,  and  kept  it  in  the  flame  without 
flinching,  until  it  was  burnt  to  ashes.  But  Porsenna, 
when  he  saw  it,  was  amazed  at  the  firmness  of  the  youth 
and  forgave  him,  and  allowed  him  to  return  to  his  home 
To  show  his  gratitude  for  the  magnanimity  of  Porsenna, 
Mucius  revealed  to  him  that  three  hundred  Roman 
youths  had  sworn  to  attempt  the  same  deed  that  he  had 
undertaken,  and  that  they  would  not  rest  until  they  had 
taken  his  life. 

When  Porsenna  heard  this,  he  feared  to  distress  the 
Romans  any  longer,  and  made  peace  with  them.  He 
took  no  land  from  them,  except  seven  villages  of  the 
Veientines,  which  the  Romans  had  conquered  in  former 
times;  and,  having  received  hostages,  he  insisted  no 
longer  that  they  should  receive  Tarquin  again  as  their 
king. 

Among  the  hostages  was  a  noble  virgin  called  Cloelia, 

who  would  not  suffer  herself  to  be  kept  captive  among 

the  Etruscans.     Therefore  when  the  night 

°*^  '^'  came,  she  slipped  out  of  the  camp,  reached 

the  river,  and  swam  across  to  Rome.  But  the  Romans, 
although  they  honoured  her  courage,  blamed  her  con- 
duct, and  brought  her  back  to  Porsenna,  because  she 
had  acted  in  opposition  to  the  treaty  they  had  sworn. 
Then  Porsenna  admired  the  faith  of  the  Romans,  and 
released  Cloelia  and  as  many  of  the  other  hostages  as 
she  selected;  and  when  he  went  away  from  Rome,  he 
left  his  camp  there  and  gave  to  the  Romans  all  the 
things  contained  in  it. 

When  Porsenna  had  become  tired  of  the  war,  he  went 
home  to  Clusium  ;  but  he  sent  his  son  Aruns,  with  an 
army  against  Aricia,  a  chief  town  of  the  Latins,  where 


CH.  111.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  65 

the  people  of  Latium  were  accustomed  to    „„     ^ 

.    ^        ^  .  Ihe   Etruscans 

meet  for  council.  But  Aristodemus,  the  defeated  at 
Greek  tyrant  of  Cumae,  helped  the  Latins, 
and  the  Etruscans  were  beaten  in  a  great  battle,  so  that 
few  escaped  alive.  These  the  Romans  received  hospi- 
tably, nursing  them  and  healing  their  wounds ;  and  to 
those  who  wished  to  remain  in  Rome  they  gave  dwell- 
ings in  that  part  of  the  town  which  after  them  was  called 
the  Etruscan  quarter. 

But  Tarquin  had  not  given  up  all  hopes  of  regaining 
his  kingdom.  Therefore  he  went  to  Tusculum,  to  his 
son-in-law,  Octavius  Mamilius,  and  per- 
suaded the  Tusculans  and  the  other  Latins 
to  make  war  upon  Rome.  And  the  Romans  trembled 
before  the  strength  of  the  Latins,  and  not  trusting  in  the 
divided  command  of  the  two  consuls,  they  nominated  a 
dictator,  who  should  have  power  over  Rome  like  a  king, 
and  to  be  sole  leader  of  the  army  for  six  months.  For 
this  purpose  they  chose  Marcus  Valerius.  After  this 
a  great  battle  was  fought  between  the  Romans  and  the 
Latins  near  the  Lake  Regillus,  and  the 
Romans  began  to  give  way  when  the  ban-  ^^"-n",^  ^^^^ 
ished  king,  at  the  head  of  a  band  of  Roman 
exiles,  came  against  them.  Then  the  Roman  dictator 
vowed  a  temple  to  Castor  and  Pollux  if  they  would  assist 
the  Romans  in  battle.  And  suddenly  two  youths  rode 
on  white  chargers  at  the  head  of  the  Roman  horse  and 
pressed  down  upon  the  enemy.  And  the  Romans  saw 
that  they  were  the  sacred  twins,  and  taking  courage 
they  overthrew  the  Latins,  and  killed  many  of  them. 
Now,  when  the  battle  was  lost,  Tarquin  gave  up  all 
hope  of  regaining  his  kingdom,  and  he  went  to  Cumae 
to  the  tyrant  Aristodemus,  and  dwelt  there  till  he  died. 


d^  Early  Rome.  CH.  ir. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

EXAMINATION   OF   THE   LEGENDS   OF   THE   KINGS. 

From  what  has  been  said  before,  it  is  clear  that  the 

story  of  the  Roman  kings  is  not  based  even  indirectly 

upon    contemporary  records  of  any   kind. 

contemporary     The  Only  claim  which  it  can  possibly  make 

records.  ^  •      ..i,    .^  '      ^• 

upon  our  acceptance  is  that  some  portions 
of  it  embody  a  faint  national  tradition  preserved  for 
many  generations  without  the  aid  of  writing.  What 
these  portions  are  we  have  no  external  criteria  to  indi- 
cate. We  must  therefore  examine  the  substance  of  the 
traditions  in  the  hope  that  we  may  succeed  in  extrica- 
ting a  residuum  of  truth  hidden  under  a  vast  superin- 
cumbent mass  of  fiction. 

The  most  easily  accomplished  task  is  the  rejection  of 
all  that  is  absolutely  fabulous.  Herein  the  credulous 
„    .     ,.    ,      annalists    themselves    have    preceded    us. 

Rationalists  * 

theory  of  Even  they  could  not  make  up  their  minds 

to  believe  in  the  miraculous  conception  of 
the  twins  and  in  the  equally  miraculous  suckling  she- 
wolf.  They  tried  to  explain  away  these  miracles  in  a 
rationalistic  way,  by  suggesting  that  some  lover  of  Rhea 
Silvia  assumed  the  form  of  Mars,  and  that  a  woman  be- 
longing to  the  disreputable  class  vulgarly  known  as  she- 
wolves  {Inpae)  acted  as  the  nurse  of  the  infant  twins. 
This  mode  of  explaining  away  miracles  has  lost  all' 
favour  with  modern  critics.  It  is  evident  that  the  mira- 
cle in  the  story  is  not  a  casual,  external  ornament, 
which  can  be  cast  aside,  but  that  it  is  the  very  germ  and 
centre  of  the  story,  the  most  important  and  essential 
part  of  it,  and  that  without  it  the  narrative  is  nothing 
but  an  empty  shell. 


CH.  IV.  Lege  fids  of  the  Kings  67 

It  is  therefore  absolutely  impossible  to  save  the  old 
miracles  of  the  birth  and  preservation  of  Romulus  and 
his  brother.  In  a  like  manner  his  ascension  into  heaven 
must  be  sacrificed,  though  that  also  was  at  one  time 
sagaciously  supposed  to  be  the  poetical  version  of  a  very 
plausible  event,  viz.,  his  murder  by  his  enemies  during 
the  sudden  darkness  of  a  thunder-storm.  The  fact  that 
his  body  could  not  be  found  after  the  storm  was  easily 
accounted  for.  The  senators,  who  murdered  him,  cut  it 
up  and  carried  the  pieces  away  under  their  togas  ! 

We  need  not  rehearse  the  vain  conceits  with  which  the 
other  miracles  were  turned  into  plausible  history.  They 
are  all  equally  futile,  and  we  have  no  alternative  left  but 
to  draw  our  pen  through  the  whole  of  them,  though 
thereby  we  reduce  the  substance  of  the  so-called  history 
of  the  kings  very  considerably  and  deprive  it  of  those 
parts  which  make  it  most  lively  and  attractive. 

But  not  only  the  stories  which  offend  against  physical 
laws  must  be  expunged;  we  must,  in  the  interest  of  truth 
be  equally  merciless  where  the  stories  are  incompatible 
with  moral  laws.  For  the  world  of  human  feelings  and 
actions  is  governed  by  laws  as  constant  as 
the  laws  of  outward  nature,  though  they  are    \^°^^^  impossi- 

°  ^  bilities. 

more  subtle  in  their  working  and  less  clear  to 
our  comprehension.  The  statement  that  during  the  forty- 
three  years  of  Noma's  reign,  Rome  enjoyed  uninter- 
rupted peace  cannot  be  looked  upon  as  anything  but  a 
fiction  or  a  dream.  No  waking  and  sober  mind  could  im- 
agine that  the  turbulent  Romans  and  their  neighbours, 
who,  in  the  time  of  Romulus  which  preceded,  and  in  the 
time  of  Tullus  Hostilius  which  followed,  hardly  sheathed 
their  swords,  would  out  of  respect  for  a  pious  and 
peaceful  king  sit  down  quietly  to  work  and  pray  for 
forty -three  years.     The  peace  of  Numa's  reign  is  a  mira- 


68  Early  Rome.  CH.  JV. 

cle  not  less  startling  than  his  intercourse  with  the  nymph 
Egeria  or  his  trick  of  intoxicating  the  god  Faunus  by 
pouring  wine  into  the  fountain  of  which  he  drank. 

Objections  hardly  less  weighty  than  those  just  men- 
tioned have  been  raised  against  the  truthfulness  of  the 
stories  of  the   kings  on  the  score  of  chro- 
Chronoiogicai     noloev-     The  period  assigned  to  the  seven 

impossibilities.  ^-'  ^  ° 

kings  embraces  two  hundred  and  forty 
years,  which  is  an  average  of  thirty-four  years  for  each 
king.  Considering  that  four  of  the  seven  kings  died  by 
violence,  and  that  one  was  expelled  fifteen  years  before 
his  death,  it  is  not  possible  that  such  a  period  should  be 
covered  by  the  reigns  of  seven  elective  monarchs.  The 
first  to  draw  attention  to  this  circumstance  was  Sir  Isaac 
Newton,  and  now  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion  on 
the  point.  It  suffices  to  compare  the  average  duration 
of  the  reigns  of  the  doges  of  Venice,  who  were,  like  the 
Roman  kings,  elective  princes.  In  five  centuries  (from 
805  to  131 1,  A.  D.)  forty  doges  occcupied  the  ducal  chair. 
This  gives  an  average  of  twelve  years  and  a  half  to 
each,  or  not  much  more  than  one-third  of  the  duration 
assigned  to  a  Roman  king.  The  Roman  figures  there- 
fore may  safely  be  pronounced  to  be  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  nature.  Difficulties  of  a  like  kind  arise  when 
we  scrutinize  the  data  which  refer  to  the  lives  and  reigns 
of  the  two  Tarquinii.  The  elder  of  them  is  said  to  have 
left  his  native  town  because  it  offered  him  no  scope  for 
his  ambition.  He  must  therefore  have  been  a  man  at 
least  approaching  middle  age.  He  was  then  married, 
and  removed  with  his  wife  Tanaquil  to  Rome.  Here 
he  lived  sixteen  years  under  Ancus  Martius.  His  own 
reign  lasted  thirty-eight  years.  He  was  then  murdered 
at  the  instigation  of  the  sons  of  Ancus,  who,  by  the  bye, 
had  waited  patiently  these  thirty-eight  years  before  they 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  69 

tried  to  recover  their  father's  inheritance.  Tarquinius 
must  have  been  upwards  of  eighty  years  old  when  he 
died,  and  his  wife  more  than  seventy.  Yet  their  chil- 
dren are  represented  as  of  tender  age.  If  we  assume 
that  the  eldest  of  them  was  ten  years  old  on  the  death  of 
his  father,  he  had  reached  the  age  of  fifty-four  when  he 
rose  against  Servius  TuUius  and  hurled  him  down  the 
steps  of  the  senate-house,  acting  like  a  man  in  the  first 
vigour  of  youth  and  heat  of  passion.  But  if  the  story, 
inconsistent  with  itself,  represents  the  children  of  the 
elder  Tarquin  as  sufficiently  grown  up  at  the  beginning 
of  the  reign  of  Servius  to  enable  the  latter  to  marry 
them  with  his  own  children,  the  subsequent  events 
become  still  more  incredible.  Tarquin  the  second  must, 
then,  have  approached  the  venerable  age  of  seventy  when 
he  rose  against  his  father-in-law,  must  have  been  more 
than  ninety  when  he  besieged  Ardea,  and  a  hundred 
and  eight  or  ten  when  he  fought  in  the  battle  of  Lake 
Regillus. 

These  are  reflections  which  do  not  disturb  the  poet  or 
the  narrator  of  legends.  But  the  historian  is  bound  to 
have  an  eye  to  the  computation  of  years.  Consequently 
the  inherent  improbabilities  of  the  story  roused  the  suspi- 
cion even  of  some  ancient  annalists,  and  Piso  bethought 
himself  of  a  means  of  remedying  the  fault.  He  inserted 
a  whole  generation  between  the  elder  and  the  younger 
Tarquin,  and  made  the  latter  the  grandson  instead  of 
the  son  of  the  former.  This  ingenious  little  trick  of 
legerdemain  met  with  the  approbation  of  Dionysius. 
But  Livy  more  honestly  tells  the  story  in  the  old  unadul- 
terated form,  leaving  to  his  readers  the  task  of  recon- 
ciling it  with  the  laws  of  nature. 

The  objections  which  we  have  raised  hitherto  to  the 
credibility  of  the  ancient  story  are  so  obvious  and  palpa- 


70  Early  Rome.  CH.  iv. 

ble  that  they  have  presented  themselves 
Other  objec-      even  to  minds  endowed  with  a  very  mode- 

tions.  •' 

rate  amount  of  critical  acumen,  and  in  ages 
long  preceding  the  birth  of  historical  criticism.  Yet 
there  are  other  objections  in  reserve,  perhaps  less  patent 
at  the  first  glance,  but  not  less  destructive  of  our  faith 
in  the  traditional  story. 

The  narrative  proceeds  on  the  assumption  that  the 

Roman  people  was  formed  by  Romulus  into  a  distinct 

national  body  out  of  heterogeneous  and,  as 

Omnipotent        ^j-  ^ere,  atomic  elements.     The  individuals 

lawgivers. 

who  compose  it  flock  together  from  different 
quarters,  and  are  moulded  into  a  political  society  by 
the  will  of  an  omnipotent  lawgiver.  They  had  no  laws 
before.  The  organization  of  the  state,  the  laws  w^hich 
regulate  private  and  public  life,  were  all  the  creation  of 
Romulus.  In  like  manner  the  first  settlers  had  hardly 
a  nadonal  religion.  It  was  Numa  who  told  them  how  to 
pray  and  worship,  who  appointed  priests,  sacrifices,  and 
all  that  belongs  to  a  public  worship.  The  presumption 
upon  which  these  accounts  rest  is  altogether  erroneous. 
The  study  of  a  great  variety  of  nations  has  shown  us 
that  people  who  live  together  in  any  sort  of  community 
might  just  as  well  be  supposed  to  be  without  a  common 
language  as  without  common  political  insdtutions  and 
without  religious  notions  and  worship.     None  of  these 

essential  conditions  for  the  existence  of  man 
re?Sfon^'^  can  be  said  to  have  been  at  any  time  artifi- 
primevalas        cially  made    for  them    by  any  prophet   or 

lawgiver.  The  utmost  that  legislators  can 
effect  is  to  modify,  to  improve,  to  purify  existing  systems 
and  institutions.  To  none  of  them,  that  we  know  of  in 
history,  was  it  given  to  find  a  void  which  he  could  fill 
with  a  theory  of  his  own  invention.    Laws  are  not  made, 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  71 

but  grow.  Even  now,  in  our  time  of  restless  and  over- 
prolific  parliamentary  law-making,  new  laws  mark  only 
the  endeavours  of  legislators  to  find  the  forms  in  which 
the  general  feeling  of  justice  is  to  be  expressed,  or  in 
which  new  wants,  felt  by  the  community,  are  to  be  satis- 
fied under  public  authority. 

If  we  approach  the  history  of  the  kings  with  such 
convictions,  we  shall  at  once  see  that  it  cannot  lay  the 
least  claim  to  authenticity.  With  the  aid  of  two  new 
sciences,  comparative  mythology  and  comparative  philo- 
logy, we  can  trace  back  the  religion  and  the  social  insti- 
tutions of  Rome  to  an  age  which  preceded  the  separa- 
tion of  the  Latin  race  from  the  Sabine  ;  nay,  further 
back  than  that,  to  the  period  when  the  forefathers  of 
Italians  and  Greeks,  and  of  all  the  nations  of  the  Aryan 
stock,  dwelt  together  and  were  bound  together  by  unity 
of  language,  religion,  and  social  institutions.  The 
received  story  breaks  down  in  the  very  attempt  to  carry 
out  the  principle  upon  which  it  proceeds.  It  wishes  to 
represent  Numa  as  the  founder  of  the  Roman  religion; 
but  it  makes  Romulus  the  son  of  a  national  god  and  of 
a  priestess  of  Vesta,  a  goddess  whose  worship  was  as 
original  and  essential  as  the  domestic  hearth  is  for  the 
establishment  of  a  house.  All  the  stories,  therefore, 
referring  to  the  origin  of  Roman  institutions,  which, 
whether  religious,  political,  or  social,  are  anterior  to 
contemporary  history  or  genuine  tradition,  must  be 
looked  upon  as  fabrications  of  a  later  age,  as  endeavours 
to  divine  the  mysterious  process  by  which  law  and  reli- 
gion spring  into  existence.  A  great  portion  of  the 
matter  that  fills  up  the  early  history  is  entirely  made  up 
of  such  endeavours.  They  take  the  form  of 
myths,  and  have  been  properly  called  myths^^''^ 
"  aetiological  myths,"  i.e.,  myths  account- 


72  Ear/y  Rome.  CH.  IV 

ing  for  causes.  Wherever  an  old  ceremony,  rite,  or 
custom  presented  itself  which  seemed  to  be  susceptible 
of  an  explanation,  a  story  was  invented  which  satisfied 
a  credulous  age  as  to  its  origin  and  meaning. 

To  give  an  illustration  of  such  aetiological  myths,  we 
will  glance  at  the  story  of  the  rape  of  the  Sabines. 

It  was  a  custom  at  Roman  nuptials  for  the  bride- 
groom to  pretend  to  carry  off  the  bride  by  force  from 
her  parents'  home.  A  similar  custom  is 
The  rape  of       found  in  Greece,  and  no  doubt  prevailed 

the  babines.  '■ 

very  largely,  if  not  universally,  in  antiquity, 
as  traces  of  it  can  be  discovered  even  now  in  many  parts 
of  Europe.  To  what  extent  this  simulated  violence  was 
the  remnant  and  reflex  of  real  violence  used  in  still 
earlier  ages,  we  need  not  now  inquire.  It  suffices  to 
know  that  the  custom  existed.  This  custom  seemed  to 
require  an  historical  explanation.  How  and  when, 
people  asked,  did  it  originate?  An  answer  was  found 
in  the  story  of  the  rape  of  the  Sabines.  It  was  said  that 
the  custom  originated  in  the  violence  committed  by 
Romulus,  whereas  the  relation  of  cause  and  effect  is  the 
very  reverse.  The  story  originated  in  the  custom,  not 
the  custom  from  the  story,  and  this  is,  therefore,  not  a 
genuine  tradition  of  a  real  event,  but  a  fiction  pure  and 
simple  or  an  aetiological  myth. 

Such  fictions  were  at  first  shame-faced  and  modest. 
At  least  they  did  not  pretend  to  historical  truth.  There- 
fore the  number  of  the  Sabine  women  carried  off  by 
the  Romans  was  stated  to  have  been  thirty,  that  is  to 
say,  as  many  as  there  were  curies  at  Rome.  In  this 
form  it  was,  on  the  very  face  of  it,  a  fable  intended  to 
please  and  to  amuse.  But  by-and-by  such  fables  were 
worked  up  into  historical  statements.  It  was  plain  that 
the  number  of  thirty  was  too  small.     What  were  thirty 


CH.  IV.  Lege7ids  of  the  Kings.  73 

women  among  so  many  men  ?  Consequently  some  in- 
genious annalists  gravely  asserted  that  the  number  of 
the  Sabines,  all  counted,  was  exactly  five  hundred  and 
twenty-seven.  Who  could  now  doubt  the  accuracy  of 
the  report  ?  It  was  evident  that  the  number  must  have 
been  taken  from  a  memorandum  entered  by  Romulus 
himself,  or  at  least  by  the  first  Pontifex  Maximus,  in  the 
public  archives  ! 

Not  only  laws  and  customs  but  also  the  names  and 
the  characteristics  of  localities  supplied  the  materials  for 
aetiological  myths.  In  the  Roman  Forum 
there  was  a  spot  called  Lacus  Curtius,  curtius*^"^ 
marked  by  a  peculiar  pavement  or  an  enclo- 
sure. According  to  a  statement  preserved  by  Varro, 
this  spot  was  struck  by  lightning  in  the  year  445  B.C., 
and  Curtius,  one  of  the  consuls  of  the  year,  enclosed  it, 
by  order  of  the  senate.  This  is  in  all  probability  the  true 
account.  But  it  was  either  forgotten  or  it  did  not  satisfy 
the  popular  fancy.  Accordingly  a  more  striking  story 
wa?  invented.  Once  upon  a  time  the  earth  opened  in 
the  Forum  and  no  effort.^  would  avail  to  close  it  Then 
the  soothsayers  declared  that  the  gods  of  death  de- 
manded the  life  of  the  bravest  citizen,  whereupon  Cur- 
tius mounted  his  charger  and  fully  armed  leaped  down 
into  the  gulf,  which  instantly  closed  upon  him.  Hence 
the  spot  where  the  chasm  had  been  was  called  the  Cur- 
tian  Lake.  Here  was  an  evident  miracle.  But  some 
rational  annalist  who  was  above  the  faith  in  childish 
miracles  wanted  sober,  sensible  facts,  which  could  be 
given  out  as  historical.  So  he  set  to  work  and  related 
how  in  the  war  between  Romulus  and  Titus  Tatius  a 
certain  Sabine  horseman  named  Curtius,  charging  the 
Romans,  plunged  into  and  was  with  difficulty  extricated 
from  a  swamp  in  the  valley  behind  the  two  hills  where 


74  Early  Rome.  ch.  iv. 

afterwards  the  Forum  was  laid  out.  After  this  Sabine 
warrior  the  spot  was  named  for  ever  afterwards  the  Lake 
of  Curtius. 

It  would  be  useless  to  enumerate  and  discuss  all  the 
aetiological  myths  of  which  the  history  of  the  kings  is 
full.  They  all  bear  the  same  character,  and  are  easily 
stripped  of  their  deceitful  historical  mask  and  exhibited 
in  their  own  fabulous  hollowness. 

Some  of  the  liveliest  and  most  attractive  portions  of 

the  early  annals  of  Rome  are  stories   of  Greek  origin 

smuggled  in  at  a  time  when  Greek  slaves 

^'■^^^  and  poets  began  to  flatter  their  Roman  pa- 

stones.  r-  o  r 

trons,  either  by  trying  to  connect  the  early 
history  of  the  two  nations,  or  by  adorning  the  dry  and 
barren  waste  of  the  Roman  annals  with  flowers  culled  in 
the  luxurious  gardens  of  their  own  imaginations. 

These  Greek  stories  are  easily  detected,  not  only 
from  their  intrinsic  character,  but  because  we  can  some- 
times point  out  the  very  spot  in  the  literature  of  Greece 
from  which  they  were  taken.  The  story  of  the  Tarquinii 
especially  is  enlivened  by  such  contributious  from  Greek 
fiction.  The  stratagem  by  which  Sextus,  the  son  of 
Tarquin,  gained  the  confidence  of  the  people  of  Gabii  is 
copied  from  Herodotus,  who  relates  it  of  Zopyrus  and 
Darius.  The  dumb  message  sent  by  Tarquin  to  his  son 
at  Gabii,  giving  him  to  understand  that  he  should  cut  off 
the  heads  of  the  foremost  men,  is  identical  with  one 
which,  according  to  the  same  author,  was  sent  by 
Thrasybulus,  the  tyrant  of  Miletus,  to  his  friend  Perian- 
der  of  Corinth.  The  embassy  to  the  Delphian  oracle  is 
another  instance  of  Greek  fiction  mixed  up  with  Roman 
annals ;  for  how  should  the  Romans  have  consulted 
Greek  oracles  more  than  two  hundred  years  before  even 
the  nam^  of  Rome  was  heard  in  Greece  ? 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  75 

But  a  legend  far  more  intimately  connected  with  the 
most  essential  part  of  Roman  story  than  the 
anecdotes  just  referred  to  is,  no  doubt   an    of  Romuks 
importation  from  Greece,  viz..  the  legend  of  not  of  Roman 
the   miraculous    birth    and   preservation    of 
Romulus  and  Remus. 

We  have  already  had  an  opportunity  of  remarking 
that  the  deities  of  the  Roman  Pantheon  were  not  in- 
vested like  those  of  the  Greeks  with  human  forms  and 
attributes.  At  least  it  may  be  affirmed  that  the  faculty  of 
personifying  their  gods  was  possessed  by  the  Romans 
only  in  a  rudimentary  condition.  They  looked  upon 
the  gods  as  either  male  or  female,  it  is  true  ;  but  there 
is  no  trace  of  a  Roman  theogony,  of  a  Roman  Olympus 
where  the  gods  lived  in  the  fashion  of  men,  marrying 
and  begetting  children.  All  the  myths,  therefore,  which 
tell  of  the  loves  of  the  gods  in  human  form  may  be 
suspected  of  being  borrowed  from  Greece.  Hence  the 
apparition  of  Mars,  in  full  armour,  to  the  affrighted 
vestal,  and  his  becoming  the  father  of  Romulus  and 
Remus,  are  features  which  betray  the  Greek  origin  of 
the  legend.  The  wonderful  preservation  of  the  exposed 
children,  especially  the  suckling  by  the  she-wolf,  are 
features  clearly  taken  from  similar  m}  ths,  which  appear 
to  have  been  numerous  in  Greece  and  the  East,  and  of 
which  that  of  the  infant  Cyrus  (afterwards  king  of 
Persia)  is  a  type.  From  the  same  source  sprung  the 
story  of  the  apotheosis  of  Romulus  ;  for  though  the 
Romans  worshipped  the  spirits  of  the  departed  as  divine 
beings,  able  to  bless  or  to  hurt  the  living,  yet  they  were 
ignorant  of  the  genuine  hero-worship  which  filled  the 
Greek  cities  with  shrines  and  sepulchres  of  local  deities 
supposed  to  be  sprung  from  a  mortal  race. 

Whatsoever  we  may  think  of  the  origin  of  these  myths, 


76  Early  Rome.  ch.  iv. 

whether  they  are,  as  we  suppose,  imported  from  Greece 
or  whether  they  grew  on  Italian  soil,  nobody  will  deny 
that  they  are  myths,  or  pretend  that  they  contain  even  a 
residuum  of  genuine  historical  traditions. 

We  now  come  to  another  force  which  has  been  active 

in  the  formation  of  the  legendary  history  of  the  Roman 

kings,  and  which  is  due  to  that  poverty  of 

Meagreness  .  ..  i  ^.^.  r,i  -r. 

of  Roman  imagmation  characteristic  of  the  Roman 
imagination.  people,  to  which  we  have  already  referred. 
Not  endowed  with  a  fancy  fertile  enough  to  invent 
stories  sufficient  to  fill  the  period  of  two  hundred  and 
forty  years,  the  Roman  pontiffs,  or  whoever  drew  up  the 
first  systematic  plan  of  the  earliest  history,  multiplied 
events  by  varying  the  detail  of  the  same  original  story, 
and  relating  the  different  versions  successively.  It  is 
possible  that  before  the  first  attempt  at  a  systematic 
arrangement  of  the  details  which  make  up  the  history  of 
the  kings,  these  details  were  separately  current  as  con- 
ceptions which  different  people  had  formed,  independ- 
ently of  one  another,  about  the  primeval  period.  The 
compilers  thereupon  made  use  of  as  much  as  suited  their 
purpose,  adjusting  and  fitting  the  materials  so  as  to  form 
a  plausible  story,  consistent  in  itself  and  free  from  pal- 
pable contradictions.  But  their  success  was  not  great. 
As  shown  above,  they  could  not  even  assign  the  proper 
place  to  the  political  and  religious  lawgiver.  In  their 
endeavour  to  attribute  to  each  of  the  kings  some  peculiar 
policy  which  might  fill  his  reign,  they  were  driven  to 
represent  a  whole  generation  of  Romans  as  destitute  of 
the  fundamental  religious  institutions.  Other  defects  in 
the  story  may  easily  be  discovered.  Those  which  refer 
to  the  chronology  have  been  already  pointed  out ;  but 
r,      ..  .  the   repetition   of  the   same   facts  under  a 

Kepetitions.  _  ^ 

slight  disguise  of  different  names  and  cir- 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  77 

cumstances.  is  perhaps  the  most  decisive  proof  of  the 
flimsiness  of  that  web  which  is  so  fair  to  look  at,  but 
which  falls  to  pieces  as  soon  as  it  is  touched  by  the  hand 
of  criticism. 

We  will  give  a  few  specimens.  It  cannot  have  es-» 
caped  the  most  careless  reader  that  there  is  a  great 
resemblance  between  Romulus  and  Tullus 
Hostilius.  They  are  both  warlike ;  both  Ri^muius^ 
double  the  number  of  Roman  citizens,  the  andTullius: 
one  by  union  with  the  Sabines,  the  other  by  the  reduc- 
tion of  Alba.  The  war  with  Alba,  again,  has  its  proto- 
type in  the  war  with  Titus  Tatius.  As  Tullus  Hostilius 
is  opposed  to  Mettius  Fufetius,  so  under  Romulus 
Hostus  Hostilius  fights  with  Mettius  Curtius;  the  two 
Hostilii  and  Mettii  are  so  clearly  identical  that  the  addi- 
tion of  second  names,  w^hich  is  intended  to  disguise  the 
identity,  cannot  deceive  us.  Besides,  Tullus  as  well  as 
Romulus  has  grown  up  among  shepherds ;  both  join 
Mount  Caelius  to  the  city,  both  organize  the  Roman 
army,  both  introduce  the  insignia  of  regal  power,  the 
"  sella  curulis,"  or  chair  of  state,  the  lictors,  and  the 
embroidered  toga,  both  degenerate  into  tyrants,  and 
finally  both  are  removed  from  earth  amidst  thunder  and 
lightning  and  are  seen  no  more. 

The  similarity  thus  apparent  between   Romulus  and 
Tullus    Hostilius   has   its   counterpart   in  the  stories  of 
Numa  and  Ancus.     The  latter  is  evidently 
the  shadow  of  the  former.     Both  are  essen-    of  Numa 

and  Ancus  : 

tially  priests  ;  the  former  nominates  a  high 
pontiff,  Numa  Marcius,  to  whom  he  confides  the  sacred 
books.  Evidently  this  Numa  Marcius,  who  combines 
the  names  of  the  two  kings,  is  a  creature  of  the  same 
fiction  which  represented  the  founder  of  the  Roman 
worship  as  a  sacerdotal  king.     As  Numa's  reign  had 

Q 


7 8  Early  Rome,  CH.  iv. 

been  emphatically  peaceful,  he  could  not  be  made  to 
establish  the  religious  ceremonies  to  be  observed  in 
declaring  war.  Consequently  this  task  was  given  to 
Ancus,  and  a  war  with  the  Latins  was  ascribed  to  him, 
which  helped  to  make  the  stories  of  the  two  kings  look 
different.  Nevertheless  the  original  identity  of  Numa 
and  Ancus  is  sufficiently  apparent.  Both  are  "  bridge 
makers."  Numa  is  "  pontifex  "  (as  it  was  supposed, 
from  p07is,  bridge,  and  faca-e,  to  make,  although  the 
word  denoted  properly  the  priestly  leader  of  a  proces- 
sion), and  to  Ancus  is  ascribed  the  construction  of  the 
wooden  bridge  over  the  Tiber.  Finally,  the  two  are  the 
only  kings  who  die  a  natural  and  peaceful  death. 

The  original  identity  of  the  first  and  second  Tarquin 

need  hardly  be  demonstrated.     But  there  are  sufficient 

indications   to    show   that    they   were    also 

of  the  two         looked   upon    as  the  political    and  military 

iarquins,  ^  ^ 

Romulus  lawgivers   of  Rome,  in    fact   that   they  are 

identical  with  Romulus  and  Tullus.  Servius 

Tullius  combines   in   himself  the  character  of  the  two 

classes  of  Roman  kings,  who  alternate  in  the  annalistic 
scheme  of  the  primeval  period.     He  is  the 

of  Servius         author  of  social  and  peaceful  order,  and  of 

Tulhus.  ^ 

civil  law  like  Numa,  and  he  also  mtroduces 
a  military  organization  which  makes  him  identical  with 
Romulus.  According  to  a  casually  preserved  tradition, 
his  birth  was  as  miraculous  as  that  of  the  founder  of 
the  city.  His  mother  was  a  vestal  virgin  and  his  father 
a  god,  who  appeared  to  her  on  the  hearth,  the  domestic 
altar,  of  which  she  had  the  charge.  By  this  birth  he  is 
really  characterized  as  the  founder  of  the  city,  for  it  ap-" 
pears  from  other  similar  legends  that  Italian  cities 
ascribed  their  origin  as  a  rule  to  sons  of  Vestals  and  the 
gods  of  the  hearth, 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  79 

It  is  generally  supposed  that  the  latter  portion  of  the 
legendary  history  of  Rome  has  a  more  historical  cha- 
racter than  the  earlier.     Scholars  who   are    _,    , 

1  he  latter  part 

prepared  to  give  up  Romulus  and  Numa  as  of  the  history 
fabulous  beings,  and  who  look  upon  TuUus  fabuk.us"as  ^^ 
and  Ancus  as  prehistoric,  would  fain  per-  ^^^  ^^^^' 
suade  themselves  that  the  stories  of  Servius  Tullius  and 
the  Tarquins  contain  a  great  deal  of  genuine  historical 
truth.  Unfortunately  this  is  an  assumption  which  upon 
examination  appears  to  be  unfounded.  If,  on  the  whole, 
the  family  history  of  the  Tarquinian  dynasty  has  not  so 
mythical  a  character  as  that  of  the  preceding  kings,  it  is 
perhaps  even  more  full  of  arbitrary  fiction  and  untrust- 
worthy statements.  We  have  referred  already  to  the  chro- 
nological absurdities  which  pervade  it,  and  to  the  stories 
of  foreign  growth  with  which  it  is  decked  out.  Nor  is 
the  supernatural  element  wanting.  Not  to  speak  of  the 
miraculous  birth  of  Servius,  and  the  light  which  blazed 
round  the  head  of  the  sleeping  child,  we  see  that  the 
prophetic  queen  Tanaquil,  the  arrival  in  Rome  of  the 
weird  Sibylla,  and  the  stories  of  prodigies  with  which  the 
narrative  is  interwoven,  are  not  of  a  character  to  give  us 
more  confidence.  So  much  for  the  bona-fide  miracles. 
Let  us  see  if  the  story  shows  more  respect  for  the  canons 
of  historical  probability  than  for  physical  laws. 

King    Servius    is    represented    as    the  author  of  the 
scheme  which   divided  the   people  into  five  classes  ac- 
cording to  a  property  qualification,  and  into  194  centuries, 
as  the  subdivision  of  the   classes.     This  is 
the  celebrated  constitution  of  centuries,  the    j^^g  ^ri2n"of 
groundwork   of    the    centuriate    comitia    of   the  Servian 

,  constitution. 

the  people  which,  constantly  adapted  to  the 

changing  condition  of  the  times,  lasted  to  the  end  of  the 

republic.    Now,  we  are  asked  to  believe,  on  the  strength 


8o  Early  Rome.  CH.  iv. 

of  the  fabulous  story  of  the  kings,  that  Servius,  having 
drawn  up  this  elaborate  scheme,  was  prevented  by  his 
sudden  death  (though  he  is  reported  to  have  reigned 
forty-four  years)  from  actually  bringing  it  into  operation, 
that  it  remained  a  dead  letter  during  the  whole  reign  of 
Tarquin  the  younger,  and  that  upon  his  expulsion 
Brutus  availed  himself  of  this  ready-made  constitution 
to  establish  the  republic  upon  it.  Although  the  people 
had  never  yet  been  called  upon  to  meet  in  the  centuriate 
assemblies  for  electoral  or  legislative  purposes,  they  fell 
in  so  readily  with  the  political  ideas  of  Servius,  that 
forthwith  centuriate  comitia  could  be  held,  the  monarchy 
abolished  by  a  vote  of  the  people  thus  assembled,  and 
the  new  republican  order  started  in  all  its  completeness, 
with  two  annual  and  responsible  consuls  instead  of  a 
king  for  life,  and  with  all  the  modifications  of  the  old 
laws  consequent  upon  the  change. 

It  need  hardly  be  said  that  such  a  process  is  all  but 
miraculous.  History  shows  that  constitutional  changes 
which  have  any  life  in  them  and  are  destined  to  last  are 
not  concocted  in  the  closet  of  a  lawgiver,  nor  put  into 
w^orking  order  without  much  difficulty  and  opposition. 
The  ease  and  facility  with  which  Tarquinius 
Expulsion  jg  deposed  at   Rome,  and  the  republic  es- 

of  larqui-  ^ 

nius  equally      tablished  without  bloodshed,    resembles    a 

miraculous.  .  ,      .  ,  ••,•, 

genume  revolution  as  much  as  a  military 
review  or  sham  fight  resembles  a  genuine  battle.  How 
can  we  suppose  that  a  powerful  king  like  Tarquinius, 
without  having  suffered  so  far  any  check  either  at 
home  or  in  foreign  war,  a  king  who  is  represented  as  ac- 
knowledged lord  of  Latium,  and  who  after  a  time  mar- 
shals all  Latium  against  Rome,  should  be  thus  cast  out  of 
his  kingdom,  not  in  consequence  of  a  long-prepared 
conspiracy,  and    a  powerful  and    organized  opposition, 


CH.  IV.  Legends  of  the  Kings.  8i 

but  by  a  sudden  and  unexpected  explosion  of  popular 
passion,  caused  by  an  outrage,  committed  not  by  the 
king  himself,  but  by  one  of  his  sons  ?  And  to  enter  into 
the  detail  of  this  alleged  outrage,  what  can  be  more 
absurd  than  the  dispute  in  the  camp  among  the  young 
princes  concerning  the  domestic  virtues  of  their  wives, 
the  night  ride  to  Rome  and  Collatia,  and  all  that  follows  ? 
How,  for  instance,  can  it  be  supposed  that  Sextus  did 
not  know  his  cousin's  wife,  until  he  saw  her  working 
late  among  her  servants  on  this  occasion  ?  Lucretia's 
death  may  be  a  good  subject  for  the  epic  or  dramatic 
poet,  but  in  the  pages  of  sober  history  it  is  an  idle  tale. 
The  foreign  history  of  this  period  is  not  a  whit  more 
plausible  or  credible.  We  will  select  two  portions — the 
war  with  Porsenna  and  the   Latin  war — to 

r   ^^       •         ■  f~      ^  r    Incredibility 

show  that  our  doubts  are  fully  justified.  If  of  the  foreign 
we  succeed  in  this,  it  will  hardly  be  neces-  '^'°''>'- 
sary  to  subject  the  remainder  of  the  story  to  a  similar 
examination,  for  it  will  not  be  supposed  likely  that  the 
earlier  portions  of  the  narrative  deserve  more  credit  than 
the  later. 

The  war  with  Porsenna  is  among  those  parts  of  early 
Roman  history  which  first  attracted  and  justified  the 
scepticism    of    modern    scholars.     And,    in       ^, 

The  war  of 

truth,  the  narrative  in   itself  is  so  absurd      Porsenna  re- 

dT    ,  .1      .  -1         ,  suited  in  the 

contradictory,  that   even   without  any      subjugation 

external  testimony  we  may  safely  pronounce  °^  Rome, 
the  events  to  be  unreal.  Porsenna  is  represented  as  a 
great  king  of  Etruria,  who  undertakes  a  war  for  the  pur- 
pose of  restoring  Tarquin  to  his  throne.  He  drives  the 
Romans  into  their  city,  lays  siege  to  it,  and  compels  the 
people  by  famine  to  sue  for  peace,  and  actually  to  give 
hostages.  Nevertheless  at  the  conclusion  of  peace  no 
mention  is  made  of  the  object  for  which  the  war  was  un- 


82  Early  Rome.  CH  iv. 

dertaken.  Tarquinius  is  not  brought  back  to  Rome.  Por- 
senna  disappears  from  the  stage,  proving  in  the  end  not 
an  enemy  but  a  benefactor  of  the  Romans,  restoring  the 
hostages,  leaving  the  Romans  his  camp  for  pubhc  use, 
and  giving  them  back  the  land  on  the  right  bank  of  the 
Tiber  of  which  he  had  intended  to  deprive  them. 

So  much  of  contradiction  is  contained  in  the  narrative 
of  Livy.  But  this  narrative  seems  coloured  in  the  in- 
terest of  Roman  vanity.  Pliny  has  preserved  a  state- 
ment that  Porsenna  in  the  treaty  of  peace  forbade 
the  Romans  to  use  iron  for  any  other  purpose  than  ag- 
riculture. This  statement,  so  humiliating  to  Roman 
pride,  would  not  have  been  made  if  the  fact  of  the  sub- 
jugation of  Rome  by  an  Etruscan  king  had  not  been 
incontestable.  The  supremacy  of  this  Etruscan  king 
was  according  to  Dionysius  formally  acknowledged  by 
the  Romans,  inasmuch  as  they  sent  him  the  insignia  of 
royalty,  a  sceptre,  a  purple  robe,  and  an  ivory  chair. 
It  seems  clear,  therefore,  that  a  war  so  successful  could 
not  have  been  a  resultless  episode  of  the  struggle  which 
the  Romans  had  to  make  to  maintain  their  independ- 
ence. The  war  of  Porsenna,  as  it  is  described  in  the 
annals,  if  it  be  not  a  mere  fiction,  must  belong  to  a  dif- 
ferent period. 

As  for  the  detail  with  which  the  account  of  the  war  is 
filled,  it  is.  if  not  miraculous,  at  least  a  poetical  orna- 
ment, admirably  suited  for  such  lays  as  Macaulay  has 
given  us  of  ancient  Rome,  but  not  for  a  Roman  history. 
The  stout  Horatius  "who  kept  the  bridge  so  well  in  the 
brave  days  of  old"  is  a  hero  like  the  Homeric  Ajax 
fighting  with  a  host  of  Trojans  to  defend  the  Grecian 
ships.  He  reminds  us  suspiciously  of  the  other  Horatius 
who  fought  as  the  champion  of  Rome  in  the  time  of  king 
Tullus.     The  story  of  the  undaunted  Mucins  Scaevola, 


CH.  IV  Legends  of  the  Kings.  83 

who  burnt  his  right  hand  and  thus  became  left-handed, 
is  apparently  nothing  but  an  attempt  to  explain  the  ori- 
gin of  the  name  of  Scsevola,  which  means  "left,"  and 
which  was  a  surname  of  a  branch  of  the  Mucian  house. 
Nor  is  it  a  very  plausible  fiction  :  the  Etruscan  king  see- 
ing his  soldiers  receive  their  pay,  the  paymaster  look- 
ing like  the  king,  the  Roman  edging  his  way  into  the 
royal  tent  and  after  all  striking  the  wrong  man,  the  king 
lost  in  admiration  of  the  stout-hearted  Roman,  and  at 
the  same  time  so  terrified  that  he  grants  peace  to  the 
enemies  whom  he  had  conquered,  all  these  are  fea- 
tures of  a  story  too  childish  to   be  tolerated  in  history. 

The  war  of  Porsenna  must,  therefore,  be  struck  out  of 
the  annals  which  purpose  to  recount  the  establishment 
of  the  Republic. 

The  Latin  war  which  terminated  with  the  battle  of 
Lake  Regillus  is  of  a  different  character.  It  seems  to  be 
real  and  to  have  taken  place  about  the  time    ^,    ,    . 

,  .        ,  .  .  ,       ,  .  The  Latin 

assigned  to  it;  but  its  aim  and  object  are  war  full  of  fic- 
entirely  misstated  and  the  detail  is  fictitious. 
We  will  endeavour  to  prove  the  first  part  of  this  asser- 
tion lower  down,  when  we  review  the  historical  residuum 
of  the  fables  and  traditions  of  this  period.  Here  we  will 
only  direct  attention  to  the  perversion  of  truth  and  to 
the  arbitrary  fiction  apparent  in  the  vulgar  narrative. 

The  description  given  of  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus  is 
altogether  poetical,  and  seems  almost  copied  from  Ho- 
mer. The  leaders  engage  in  single  combat  and  perform 
feats  of  personal  prowess.  It  is  essentially  a  cavalry  en- 
gagement. The  infantry,  in  which  we  know  that  the 
strength  of  the  Roman  armies  always  consisted,  goes  for 
nothing.  Victory  is  decided  in  the  end  by  the  charge  of 
the  Roman  knights  headed  by  the  divine  twins  Castor 
and  Pollux.     This  feature  shows  that  the  poetic  colour- 


84  Early  Rome.  CH.  v. 

ing  of  the  story  is  Greek;  for  the  identical  legend,  of 
aid  given  by  Castor  and  Pollux  in  battle,  occurs  in  the 
annals  of  the  Greek  city  of  Locri  in  southern  Italy. 

The  time  when  the  battle  of  Lake  Regillus  was  fought 
is  variously  stated  by  various  authors.  It  seems  strange 
that,  if  the  battle  was  so  decisive  as  is  generally  assumed, 
its  date  should  be  uncertain  But  we  may  entertain  grave 
doubts  about  its  decisiveness,  when  we  find  that  the  La- 
tins, who  are  reported  to  have  been  utterly  crushed  in  it 
concluded  a  league  with  Rome  soon  afterwards  on  . 
footing  of  equality. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE   FIVE    PHASES    OF   THE     HISTORY   OF    ROME     IN   THP 
REGAL   PERIOD. 

We  have  now  examined  the  salient  features  of  the  his- 
tory of  the  kings,  and  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that 
it  is  no  history  at  all.  Shall  we  rest  here,  satisfied  with 
this  negative  result?  Shall  we  cut  off  all  that  precedes 
the  establishment  of  the  republic  as  mere  idle  play  of 
the  imagination,  or  is  it  possible  to  save  something  out 
of  the  wreck,  and  to  substitute  a  few  great  outlines  for 
the  elaborate  drawing  with  all  the  fanciful  detail?  Can 
we  suppose  that,  after  all,  the  memory  of  somo  events 
of  the  earliest  period  did  remain  in  the  popular  mind 
with  sufficient  distinctness  to  supply  the  earliest  annalists 
with  an  historical  substratum  for  their  narrative,  or  are 
there,  perhaps,  in  the  institutions  of  the  republic  certain 
features  from  which  we  may  infer  what  sort  of  institutions 
preceded  them  ?  We  think  we  may  safely  proceed  upon 
the  former  as  well  as  upon  the  latter  hypothesis,  and  as- 


CH.  V.  Five  Phases  of  Re^al  Period.  85 

sert  that  by  disclaiming  the  intention  of  giving  a  conse- 
cutive narrative,  by  passing  over  most  of  the  names  and 
dates  with  which  we  have  been  teased  so  long,  we  shah 
be  able  to  draw  a  picture  — necessarily  imperfect,  but  his 
torically  true— of  the  political  condition  of  the  Roman 
people  in  the  earliest  period,  and  of  the  national  and 
political  revolutions  through  which  it  passed. 

There  is  every  reason  for  believing  that  long  before 
Rome  became  powerful,  the  whole  of  Latium  was  filled 
with  a  number  of  independent  city-commu- 

^  \  Most  ancient 

nities.     In  fact,  this  is  the  assumption  upon      state  of  La- 
which  the  Roman  tradition  itself  proceeds. 
It  is  quite  credible  also,  that  these  Latin  cities  had  esta- 
blished a  sort  of  confederacy,  and  that  at  the  head  of  this 
confederacy  was  Alba  Longa.     In  historical 

A  confcciGr3.cv 

times  Alba  Longa  lay  in  ruins.  Nevertheless  under  Alba  as 
the  people  of  Latium  annually  assembled  ^^^'^• 
near  its  site,  where  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris  had 
been  left  standing,  and  there  they  celebrated  the  Latin 
games  [ferics  LatiticE)  and  offered  a  joint  sacrifice  to 
Jupiter  as  a  sign  and  memorial  of  their  being  all  mem- 
bers of  a  national  confederation.  Rome  had  then  the 
presidency  at  these  meetings,  occupying  the  place  which 
originally  no  doubt  belonged  to  Alba  Longa.  It  is  not 
likely  that  such  a  custom  would  have  been  introduced 
after  the  fall  of  Alba,  whereas  we  can  easily  understand 
that  if  established  at  the  time  of  Alban  preponderance, 
it  was  continued  in  the  same  spot  ever  after  in  that  spirit 
of  conservatism  which  is  natural  to  all  religions,  but  was 
especially  characteristic  of  the  religion  of  Rome. 

We  may  suppose  that,  in  this  period  of  the  power  of 
Alba,  the  hills  of  Rome  were  occupied  by 
Latin  settlers,  like   all  the  sites  in  Latium,    setdement.^ '° 
which   were   capable    of  being  easily  con- 


86  Early  Rome.  CH.  v. 

verted  into  strongholds.  The  Romans  of  that  period, 
therefore,  were  Latins,  and  the  Roman  language  has  re- 
tained for  ever  after  the  name  of  Latin,  testifying  there- 
by the  original  identity  of  race. 

This,  then,  is  the  first  phase  of  Roman  history. 

The  second  stage  begins  with  the  invasion  of  Latium 
by  a  kindred  race,  the  Sabines.    That  such 

Invasion   of  ■'  ,  . 

Latium  by  an  invasion  took  place  at  an  early  period  is 
Sabines.  certain,  even  if  the  story  of  Titus  Tatius  and 

the  people  of  Cures,  coming  down  the  valley  of  the 
Tiber,  conquering  the  Capitoline  and  the  Ouirinal  hills, 
and  settling  in  Rome  were  not  related  in  the  annals, 
and  did  not  bear  the  aspect  of  a  genuine  tradition.  For 
among  the  oldest  and  most  permanent  institutions  of 
Rome,  among  their  religious  rites  and  their  deities,  there 
are  some  which  are  admitted  on  all  sides  to  be  of  Sabine 
origin.  It  is  therefore  highly  probable  that  Sabines  set- 
tled on  some  of  the  hills  of  Rome,  as  the  annals  relate, 
and  also  that  at  the  same  time  other  Latin  cities  passed 
into  the  hands  of  the  same  invaders,  for  it  is  not  likely 
that  the  hills  of  Rome  were  the  only  attraction  (as  the 
story  of  the  rape  would  make  us  believe),  and  we  do 
find  that  actually  some  of  the  cities  of  Latium  between 
the  Tiber  and  the  Anio  were  Sabine  in  population.  Per- 
haps it  was  in  the  course  of  this  Sabine  invasion  that 
Alba  Longa,  the  head  of  Latium,  was  taken  and  de- 
stroyed. 

This  is  the  second  phase  of  the  history  of  Rome. 

The  annalists  have  preserved  traditions  of  hostilities 
between  the  original  Latin  settlers  on  the  Palatine  and 
the  invaders  who  held  the  Capitol  and  the  Quirinal. 
such  hostilities  might  safely  be  assumed  to  have  taken 
place  even  if  no  tradition  had  preserved  the  memory  of 
them.     As  we  have  seen  above  (p.  6),  nothing  is  more 


CH.  V.  Five  Phases  of  Regal  Period.  87 

likely  than  that  the  independent  communities,  living  in 
such  proximity  to  one  another,  found  it  more  advantage- 
ous to  come  to  terms  and  to  live  in  peace  and  friend- 
ship, than  to  harass  each  other  in  daily  strife.  Accor- 
dingly, they  agreed  to  a  kind  of  international 

.  Alliance  of 

alliance,  m   domg  so  they  followed  the  ex-       Romans  and 
ample  of  the  Latin  cities,  and,  as  far  as  we 
can  see,  the  custom  of  all  the  Italian  races,  who  seem 
everywhere  to  have  formed  confederacies  where  circum- 
stances favoured  or  necessitated  them. 

This  is  the  third  phase  of  the  history  of  Rome. 

The  alliance  of  Romans  and  Sabines  was  the  condi- 
tion of  the  future  greatness  of  Rome  ;  for  the  strength  of 
the  several  communities,  instead  of  being  worn  out  by 
internal  strife,  was  now  combined  and  soon  gave  Rome 
a  preponderance  over  the  smaller  Latin  towns.  But  the 
proximity  to  each  other  of  the  members  of  the  Roman 
confederacy  was  such,  their  intercourse  so  frequent,  their 
interests  so  nearly  identical,  that  a  mere  international 
alliance  was  soon  found  an  insufficient  bond  of  union, 
and  thus  it  was  developed  into  some  sort  of 
closer  political   union,  or   a   federal   state.      Alliance 

■^  '  developed 

This  step  is  indicated  in  the  tradition  of  the       into  a  fede. 

,.  1  ,  1  ,  ral  state. 

annalists,  when  they  say  that  the  senate  was 
raised  from  one  hundred  to  two  hundred  members,  that 
the  number  of  the  citizens  was  doubled,  and  that  the 
two  kings,  Romulus  and  Tatius,  agreed  to  reign  in  com- 
mon. The  Roman  state  had  now  outgrown  the  political 
organization  at  which  the  leagues  of  the  Latins,  and  of 
the  other  Italian  peoples,  stopped.  All  the  other  leagues 
were  international  leaving  each  member  free  to  support 
or  to  oppose  the  policy  of  the  majority.  The  Romans, 
starting  from  the  same  point,  advanced  further,  and 
bound  up  the  free  will  and  independence  of  the  mem- 


8S  Early  Rome.  CH.  v. 

bers  in  the  national  will,  declared  by  the  decisions  of  a 
common  senate  and  a  popular  assembly. 

This  was  the  fourth  phase  of  the  history  of  Rome. 

Rome  had  now  become  a  fcdenl  state,  consisting  of  a 
union  of  families,  which  formed  curies  and  tribes.  The 
head  of  this  community  was  a  king,  elected  for  life,  and 
combining  the  functions  of  high  priest  with  those  of 
judge  and  military  chief.  But  of  these  three  functions 
the  first  seems  to  have  been  by  far  the  most  prominent 
and  important  in  the  earliest  period  of  the  monarchy,  as 
will  appear  more  fully  lower  down.  Religion  is  older 
than  any  other  element  in  human  society.  Political  in- 
stitutions and  civil  laws  are  modelled  upon  religious 
institutions  and  divine  law,  and  are  a  secondary  deve- 
lopment in  the  history  of  nations.  Though  in  the  con- 
ventional arrangement  of  the  Roman  kings,  Romulus 
precedes  Numa,  the  institutions  of  Numa  must  be  older 
than  those  of  Romulus ;  in  other  words,  the  oldest  kings 
of  Rome  were  pre-eminently  priests,  and  the  oldest  con- 
stitution was  more  akin  to  a  federation  of  half-independ- 
ent families  than  to  a  fully  developed  state. 

How  long  this  kind  of  priest  kingship  lasted  we  can- 
not tell.  It  was  followed  by  a  military  monarchy,  which 
^,  abolished   the    old    sacerdotal    constitution. 

The    sacer-  .        ,       ,  .,.  i        •    •, 

dotal  king  raised   the    military    and   civil    power  over 

by^rmiif-  that  of  the  priestly  order,  consolidated  and 

tary  king.  strengthened  the  state,  and  thus  intensified 

the  preponderance  of  Rome  over  the  other  Latin  cities. 

This  is  the  fifth  phase  in  the  history  of  Rome.  It 
appears  in  the  traditional  story  as  the  reigns  of  the 
Tarquins  and  Servius  Tullius,  and  it  seems  to  coincide 
with  the  influence  of  Etruscan  dominion  over  Latium. 

The  nation  of  the  Etruscans  differed  widely  from  the 
Latins  and  their  kinsmen  the  Sabines.     They  spoke  a 


CH.  V.  Five  Phases  of  Regal  Period.  89 

language    not   understood  by   their   neigh- 
bours.    They  were  far  advanced  in  civihza-        '^^^  Etms- 

'  _  cans. 

tion,  in  architecture  and  the  other  arts,  in 
trade,  navigation,  and  manufactures,  when  the  Ro- 
mans were  still  half  barbarians.  Their  settlements 
stretched  at  one  time  from  the  Alps  to  Campania. 
Latium  lay  between  Campania  and  Etruria  proper;  it 
was  therefore  the  country  through  which  the  Etruscans 
had  to  pass,  if  they  proceeded  southwards  by  land.  Nor 
are  traces  of  Etruscan  dominion  wanting  in  Latium.  The 
city  of  Tusculutn  betrays  by  its  very  name 

■'  .  Etruscan 

a  Tuscan,  i.  e.  an  Etruscan,  origm  ;  the  town  dominion  in 
of  Fidenae,  close  to  Rome,  is  admitted  to  ^  ^^™" 
have  been  Etruscan  ;  Mezentius,  an  old  Etruscan  king, 
is  said  to  have  ruled  in  Latium  ;  and  the  story  of  Por- 
senna  relates  the  victory  of  an  Etruscan  king  over  the 
Romans.  Finally,  what  is  perhaps  the  most  significant 
hint,  the  insignia  of  the  Roman  kings  (p.  47)  were  those 
of  the  kings  of  Etruria.  If,  in  addition  to  all  these  indi- 
cations, we  find  that  some  of  the  Roman  kings  were 
supposed  to  have  come  from  Etruria,  we  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  arriving  at  the  conclusion  that  these  kings  were 
Etruscan  conquerors. 

In  accordance  with  this  view  we  find  that  the  Roman 
tradition  ascribes  to  the  elder  Tarquin  changes  in  the 
old  institutions  of  Rome,  in  which  he  had  to  ,  , 

r  1  •  •  ,-    -I  •  .        ,  ,  Reforms  of 

face  the  opposition  of  the  native  priesthood.  Tarquin 
In  the  new  organization  of  the  army,  Tar- 
quinius  Priscus  is  obHged  to  yield  so  far  to  the  objections 
of  Attus  Navius,  the  augur,  that  he  adapts  his  reforms 
to  the  old  names  and  divisions.  In  removing  some  old 
Sabine  sanctuaries  from  a  site  where  he  wishes  to  build 
the  great  temple  of  the  Etruscan  trinity  of  gods,  Jupiter, 
Juno,  and   Minerva,  he  is  obliged  to  respect  the  shrines 


90  Early  Rome.  ch.  v 

of  Juventas  and  Terminus.  It  is  but  a  link  in  this  chain, 
that  the  second  king  in  this  line,  Servius,  gives  a  secular 
and  military  character  to  the  Roman  institutions  by  de- 
vising the  centuriate  assembly,  an  organization  on  the 
basis  of  property  qualifications  for  the  purpose  of  go- 
vernment and  war.  This  organization  effectually  did 
away  with  the  old  religious  curiatic  assemblies,  from 
which  all  political  power  was  now  taken.  If  we  are 
justified  in  supposing  that  simultaneously  the  old  sacer- 
dotal king,  the  Rex,  was  stripped  of  his  influence,  and 
that  the  chief  priesthood  was  conferred  on  the  pontiffs, 
we  shall  understand  in  its  totality  the  great  change 
which  raised  Rome,  from  an  aristocratic  confederacy 
under  a  sacerdotal  head,  to  a  military  monarchy,  in 
which  the  priesthood  was  subordinate  to  the  state  and  in 
which  law  and  policy  were  no  longer  ecclesiastical  but 
secular. 

The  old  aristocracy  appears  to  have  been  dissatisfied, 
because  the  military  kings  curtailed  their  influence.  The 
power  of  the  senate  was  abridged ;  but  the  common 
people  were  well  disposed  towards  the  kings,  who  were 

their  natural  protectors.  In  the  relation  of 
Effect  of  _  ,     r  , 

the  military  Rome  to  Latmm  a  change  seems  to  have 
monarchy.         ^^^^^    ^^^^^      j^  hitherto^  Rome  had  been 

only  a  member  of  the  Latin  confederacy,  she  now  became 
its  head.  Nay,  the  preponderance  of  Rome  under  the 
Etruscan  kings  seems  to  have  assumed  the  form  of 
actual  dominion.  How  long  this  period  lasted  we  have 
no  means  of  judging.  It  seems,  however,  not  to  have 
continued  long  enough  to  change  the  national  character 
or  to  affect  the  language  of  the  Romans  and  the  Latins. 

At  last  a  reaction  took  place.  PoHtical  op- 
Jon.  "^^^^ "       position   seems    to   have   been   backed  by 

national  animosity.     The    Etruscan   kings 


CH.  V.  Five  Phases  of  Regai  Period.  9  x 

were  expelled.  The  Romans  and  the  Latins  regained 
their  independence  at  the  same  time.  A  partial  but  not 
a  total  restoration  then  took  place.  The  old  federal  and 
sacerdotal  institutions  were  not  revived. 
The  title  of  sacerdotal  king  [^Rex  sacrificuhis  ^  ^^^^ 
or  Rex  sacroruni)  was  allowed  to  continue ;  but  the 
office  remained  stripped  of  all  political  influence  and 
limited  to  some  insignificant  religious  formalities.  The 
old  comitia  of  curies  were  also  preserved,  but  they  no 
longer  possessed  any  power  in  the  state.  The  sove- 
reignty of  the  people  was  lodged  in  the  centuriate  comi- 
tia, and  the  executive  power  in  magistrates  who  were 
not  chosen  for  life  and  consequently  invested  with 
irresponsible  power,  but  whose  tenure  of  office  limited 
to  the  space  of  one  year.  To  this  limitation  was  added 
another.  Two  men  were  elected  to  fill  the  chief  office  as 
colleagues,  so  that  each  might  be  a  check  on  the  other, 
if  he  acted  unlawfully.  Otherwise  the  prerogatives  of 
the  Royal  office,  as  exercised  by  the  late  kings,  were  not 
curtailed. 

Thus  the  period  of  the  military  monarchy,  though  it 
was  not  destined  to  last  for  ever,  and  though  it  did  not 
last  perhaps  for  many  generations,  was  the  means  of 
developing  out  of  the  old  sacerdotal  institutions  under  %. 
priest-king  that  military  organization  which  was  equal  to 
the  task  of  making  Rome  the  mistress  of  Italy  and  of 
the  world. 

With  the  republic  began  the  sixth  phase  in  the  history 
of  Rome. 


i)^  Early  Rome.  ch.  vi. 

CHAPTER  VI. 

RELIGIOUS    INSTITUTIONS    IN    THE    TIME   OF    THE    KINGS. 

Giving  up  all  details  of  the  traditional  history  of  the 
king-s,  we  have  tried  to  discover  through  the  haze  of  fic- 
tion a  few  prominent  land-marks,  by  which  we  have 
traced  the  probable  course  of  events  from  the  time  when 
the  first  settlers  arrived  on  the  seven  hills  of  Rome  to 
the  establishment  of  a  regular  republican  government 
under  annually  elected  magistrates.  We  will  now  en- 
deavour to  draw  a  picture  of  the  public  hfe  of  the  Ro- 
man people  in  that  primeval  period,  so  that  we  may 
have  a  starting-point,  from  which  to  measure  the  ad- 
vance made  in  the  succeeding  ages,  and  a  background 
to  relieve  the  life  and  action  of  historical  times. 

How,  it  may  be  asked,  shall  we  obtain  the  materials 
for  this  picture,  as  the  history  of  the  time  to  which  the 

picture  belongs  is  lost  ?  Shall  we  not  fall  into 
a^sketch^  ^°'"     an  error  as  great  as  that  for  which  we  blame 

the  annalists  ?  Shall  we  not  be  obliged  to 
draw  upon  our  fancy  alone  ?  And  will  not  our  picture  be 
as  worthless  as  the  legends  which  we  have  condemned? 
Fortunately  it  is  not  so.  The  advance  of  historical 
science  since  the  days  of  the  Roman  annalists  has  en- 
abled us  to  reproduce  pictures  of  the  society  even  of 
prehistoric  ages,  with  almost  as  much  objective  truth  as 

the  geologist  can  reproduce  the  fauna  and 
S^orcreece"    ^^®  ^0'"^  o^"  ^ges  preceding  the  creation  of 

man  and  the  present  conformation  of  the 
earth's  surface.  The  heroic  period  of  Greek  national 
life,  the  age  of  the  Trojan  war,  and  of  all  that  follows 
down  to  the  Doric  migration,  is  lost  to  history  as  much 


CH.  VI.  Religious  Institutions.  93 

as  the  period  of  the  Roman  kings.  Yet  it  is  possible  to 
form  a  full  and  accurate  conception  of  life  in  this  period, 
of  the  state  of  society,  of  government  and  religion,  nay 
of  domestic  arrangements,  and  even  of  articles  of  dress 
and  furniture.  This  we  are  enabled  to  do  because  the 
epic  poetry  of  Greece,  though  it  cannot  be  trusted  as 
evidence  to  prove  historical  events,  invests  its  ideal  per- 
sonages with  real  properties,  attributes,  and  qualities, 
abstracted  from  what  actually  came  under  the  poet's  ob- 
servation. If  the  author  of  the  Odyssey  tells  of  Nausicaa 
and  her  troop  of  maid-servants  washing  the  family  linen 
by  the  river  outside  the  town,  we  shall  infer  not  that 
there  ever  lived  a  real  princess  called  Nausicaa,  but  that 
in  the  heroic  times  the  daughters  of  kings  were  in  the 
habit  of  superintending  the  family  washing. 

This  is  well  understood  nowadays.  But  the  case  is 
somewhat  different  when  we  approach  the  prehistoric 
period  of  Rome.  Here  we  have  no  epic  poems,  origi- 
nating in  the  age  we  wish  to  study,  and  therefore  repre- 
senting the  general  state  of  society  correctly.  The  Ro- 
mans, as  we  have  had  occasion  to  remark,  had  no  na- 
tional epic  poetry.  Memory  unaided  by  poetry  may 
preserve  striking  events  of  national  importance,  but  will 
it  linger  on  habits  and  customs  which  have  passed  away  ? 
We  can  hardly  think  this  possible,  and  we  must  there- 
fore draw  our  information  concerning  the  institutions  of 
the  regal  period  from  other  sources. 

Fortunately  these  are  not  altogether  wanting.  We 
have  already  referred  to  the  conservative  spirit  of  the 
Romans,  which   induced  them  to  preserve    ^ 

Conservative 

the  forms  and  outward  observances  of  old    spirit  of  the 
institutions  long  after  those  institutions  were      °"^^"^- 
practically  abolished,    and  the   forms  had  been  empty 
and  unmeaning.     Wherever,  therefore,  we  can  discover 

H 


94  Early  Rome.  CH.  vi. 

such  forms,  we  are  justified  in  concluding  that  they  had 
once  possessed  hfe  and  vigour,  and  from  the  totahty 
of  such  isolated  fragments  we  can  reconstruct  the  out- 
lines of  the  old  social  and  political  life. 

We  start  with  a  fact  which  we  have  had  occasion  to 
refer  to  in  a  previous  chapter  (p.  71),  viz.,  that  religious 
ideas  and  institutions  are  the  oldest  inherit- 
[;Tf're?i'g?ot  ance  of  a  nation,  and  that  they  precede 
institutiuns.  thosc  which  are  secular  and  political  The 
earliest  periods  in  the  history  of  every  nation  may  be 
called  sacerdotal  or  religious.  All  human  action  was 
then  inspired,  directed,  and  judged  from  a  religious 
point  of  view;  the  laws  were  the  laws  of  God;  the  peo- 
ple was  a  community  of  worshippers ;  the  temple  of  the 
national  deity  was  the  centre  of  the  state  ;  the  priests, 
as  the  interpreters  of  the  divine  will,  ruled  and  regulated 
society  ;  the  national  wealth  and  the  national  strength 
were  devoted  to  uphold  this  system. 

The  truth  of  this  statement  is  borne  out  by  what  we 

know  of  the  Oriental  nations.  The  Egyptians,  the  Jews, 

the  Hindoos  based  their  political  institutions 

Supremacy  of  r  j    ^-  t-u  j 

religion  in  the    upon  a  rcligious   foundation.     The   sacred 
^^^'  books,  which  contained  the  religious  laws, 

were  at  the  same  time  the  code  which  regulated  social 
and  political  life.  Obhgations  towards  the  national  reli- 
gion, its  creed  and  worship,  were  not  distinguished  from 
moral  obligations,  nor  moral  obligations  from  those  of 
civil  law.  The  whole  life  of  those  nations  was  bound  up 
in  subjection  to  one  idea,  the  idea  of  religion. 

As  long  as  the  nations  of  antiquity  preserved  inde- 
pendent national  existence,  every  religion  was  strictly 
^  ,.  a   national  religion,   every  god    a  national 

Every  reli-  °  ■,     ^  r       t 

gion  purely        god,   whose  authority  extended  no  further 
than  the  boundaries  of  the  state.     The  god 


CH.  VI.  Religious  Institutions.  95 

of  one  state  could  not  claim  worship  from  the  citizens 
of  another ;  nay,  he  repudiated  such  worship  as  sacrile- 
gious and  illegitimate.  And  in  a  citizen  it  would  have 
been  treason  of  the  worst  kind  if  he  had  paid  homage 
to  any  other  than  the  national  gods.  Purity  of  religion 
was  a  civic  virtue ;  devotion  to  the  altars  of  the  gods 
was  essential  to  patriotism.  Exclusion  from  the  national 
worship  was  equivalent  to  political  banishment.  A  man 
who  had  lost  his  altar  had  lost  his  home. 

This  unity  or  oneness  of  state  and  religion  impresses 
on  all  the  ancient  communities  a  more  or  less  hierarchi- 
cal character,  although  the  nations  of  the 
West,  both   Greeks   and    Italians,  differed      ^i,^,^'^,^;^^^/ 
widely  from   those  of  the  East,   inasmuch      civil  com- 

,  1         1  111  munities. 

as  they  never  made  themselves  the  slaves 
of  a  priestly  caste  and  early  emancipated  the  state  from 
the  bondage  of  laws  which  claimed  to  be  divine  and 
therefore  unchangeable. 

Yet  the   earliest   period   of  the  Roman  people  may 
emphatically  be    called    religious  or   rather   sacerdotal. 
The  law  was  in  the  custody  of  the  pontiffs.     The  punish- 
ment of  offences  consisted  in  an  offering  or 
payment  made  to  the  gods  in  the  form  of  a      ?stkutfons 
fine  or  ransom  {^cejta),  or  it  was  a  solemn      originally 

-    '  J  religious. 

act  of  supplication  addressed  to  the  gods  to 
appease  their  anger  by  the  punishment  [supplicium) 
of  the  offender.  Civil  claims  were  prosecuted  by  a  sacra- 
inentu7n,  i.  e.  by  depositing  a  sum  in  the  hands  of  priests, 
which  the  losing  party  forfeited  to  the  gods.  Every 
political  association  was  placed  under  the  control  of  a 
protecting  deity;  for  every  action,  whether  private  or 
public,  the  consent  of  the  deity  had  first  to  be  obtained. 
The  father  of  every  family  was  a  priest ;  every  house 
[gens)   or  association  of  families  had  its  sanctuary  ;  so 


95  Early  Rome.  CH.  vi, 

had  the  curia,  or  association  of  houses,  every  quarter  of 
a  town,  every  tribe,  and  finally  the  state  itself.  The 
temple  of  Vesta  was  the  symbolic  hearth  of  the  whole 
nation  in  the  old  Sabino-Latin  town.  The  temple  of 
Jupiter  erected  by  the  Tarquins  on  the  Capitol  was  the 
centre  of  the  enlarged  state  ;  the  temple  of  Diana  on  the 
Aventine  united  the  Romans  and  their  allies,  the  Latins, 
as  fellow-worshippers  and  fellow-citizens,  as  the  old 
temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  the  Alban  mount  had 
anciently  united  all  the  members  of  the  Latin  con- 
federacy. 

The  pervading  influence  of  religion  in  the  first  forma- 
tion of  society  and  political  institutions  is  thus  sufficiently 
clear,  and  it  follows  that  to  understand  the  true  cha- 
racter and  working  of  these  institutions  we  must  try  to 
understand  the  nature  of  that  religion. 

The  religion  of  the  Romans,  though  belonging  to  that 
class  of  polytheism  which  prevailed,  as  far  as  we  can 
see,  among  all  the  branches  of  the  Aryan 
ofthr'^'°"  race,  differed  widely  not  only  from  that  of 
Romans.  ^^^  Asiatic  nations,  but  also  from  that  of  the 

Greeks,  their  nearest  neighbours.  It  agreed  in  so  far  as 
it  was  a  worship  of  the  powers  of  nature,  both  material 
and  spiritual.  The  heavens,  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
light,  water,  the  earth,  the  powers  presiding  over  gene- 
ration and  destruction,  health  and  sickness,  the  ruling 
passions  of  the  human  heart,  the  protectors  of  law  and 
society,  all  were  singled  out  from  the  all-pervading  god- 
head, the  life  and  spirit  of  the  world,  to  receive  separate 
and  special  worship  from  man.  While  other  nations 
speculated  with  more  or  less  perseverance  on  the  nature 
and  attributes  of  the  divine  beings,  and  laid  down  elabo- 
rate systems  of  the  birth  and  genealogy  of  the  gods, 
investing   them  with   human   forms  and   passions,  the 


CH.  V[.  Religious  Institutions.  97 

Romans  never  indulged  in  such  speculations,  but  were 
satisfied  to  look  upon  their  gods  as  spiritual  beings,  all- 
powerful  to  hurt  or  to  benefit  man  ;  they  never  worked 
out  a  philosophical  system  of  religion  ;  in  fact,  they  had 
no  theology  and  no  sacred  books  to  base  it  on.  Before 
they  became  directly  or  indirectly  acquainted  with  the 
Greeks,  they  had  at  best  only  a  rudimentary  mythology, 
and  consequently  there  are  no  myths  of  genuine  Roman 
growth  (page  75).  It  is  related  that  in  the  beginning 
of  the  regal  period  there  were  no  images  of  gods,  but 
only  symbols,  such  as  a  lance  or  a  stone.  The  repre- 
sentations of  the  gods  in  human  forms  were  introduced 
by  the  Etruscans,  who  had  borrowed  them  from  the  Greeks 
of  the  Italian  peninsula.  Thus  began  a  regu-       ^^     . 

^  .  Adoption  of 

lar  process  of  naturalization  of  the  Greek  the  Greek 
deities ;  the  whole  system  of  Greek  theology,  ™^  °  °^' 
their  myths  and  their  sacred  art,  were  bodily  trans- 
planted to  fill  the  void  which  the  unimaginative  and  un- 
speculative  character  of  the  Romans,  and  in  fact  of  all 
the  Italians,  had  left  in  their  religion.  Zeus  was  identi- 
fied with  Jupiter,  Here  with  Juno,  Athene  with  Minerva, 
Ares  with  Mars,  although  the  original  conceptions  of 
their  nature  might  have  been  very  different.  Some 
Greek  and  even  some  Asiatic  deities  were  adopted  into 
the  family  of  the  Roman  national  gods.  In  short — as 
far  as  the  speculative  and  imaginative  part  of  religion 
was  concerned,  that  is,  the  theological  system,  or  the 
articles  of  faith,  if  we  might  use  this  expression — the  re- 
iigion  of  Rome  became  identified  with  that  of  Greece. 

But  the  case  was  different  with  respect  to  that  part  of 
religion  which  springs  not  from  reflection  and  fancy,  but 
from  feeling.  The  relation  between  God  and  man,  the 
sentiments  with  which  the  gods  were  approached,  the 
duties  which  they  exacted,  the  worship  prescribed  for  their 


98  Early  Rome.  CH.  vi. 

service,  in  short  the  Law,  or  the  practical  as  distin- 
guished from  the  theoretical  part,  were  peculiarly  Ro- 
man, and  remained  so  even  when  the  whole  host  of  the 
Greek  Olympus  had  migrated  to  Rome.  What  the 
Romans  understood  by  religion  was  confined  to  this 
second  part,  as  by  far  the  more  important ;  through  it 
alone  religion  could  exercise  an  influence  on  real  life, 
private  as  well  as  public,  and  it  is  this  which  must  there- 
fore engage  our  special  attention. 

If  the  religion  of  the  Greeks  was  more  fully  and  richly 
developed  than  that  of  the  Romans  on  the 

Minute  ...  ,      .  ,        _, 

religious  Side  of  Speculation,  the  Romans  on  the  other 

o  servances.  j^^j^^^  cultivated  the  Law  with  more  zeal 
and  earnestness.  In  fact,  they  almost  resemble  some 
Oriental  nations,  Aryan  and  Semitic,  in  the  scrupulous 
minuteness  into  which  they  bent  the  most  trifling  trans- 
actions of  life  under  the  yoke  of  religious  duties.  It  is 
true  they  were  free  from  the  minute  regulations  con- 
cerning eating  which  in  the  East  were  an  important  and 
characteristic  part  of  religious  Law.  They  did  not  know 
the  difference  between  clean  and  unclean  animals,  nor 
were  the  eastern  laws  of  fasting  and  manifold  washings 
imposed  upon  them.  All  asceticism  was  unknown  to 
them.  But  nevertheless  the  observances  prescribed  by 
their  religion  were  so  numerous  and  imperative  that  no 
transaction  of  any  importance  was  free  from  them. 
Prayers,  offerings,  vows,  religious  ceremonies,  minutely 
regulated  for  every  emergency,  were  of  vital  impor- 
tance. The  least  oversight,  the  least  neglect  might 
draw  down  the  anger  of  the  gods.  Even  ignorance  was 
no  excuse,  for  the  divine  interpreters  of  the  will  of  the 
gods  were  at  hand  to  expound  the  law  and  to  prescribe 
for  every  occasion  the  proper  rite  of  worship. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  return  for  faithful  service,  the 


CH.  VI.  Religious  Institutions.  99 

devout  Roman  had  a  right  to  expect  from  his  gods  help, 
protection,  and  all  the  blessings  of  hfe.  The  gods  had 
made  a  covenant  with  him,  and  they  were  bound  to  per- 
form their  part  of  the  mutual  obligation,  if  he  was  scru- 
pulous in  performing  his  own.  In  fact,  the 
word  RELIGION  is  of  the  same  root  as  obli-  of thew^rd 
GATION  ;  and  whereas  the  latter  is  applied  "  '■^^'sion." 
to  denote  a  covenant  entered  into  between  one  citizen 
and  another  according  to  the  rules  of  civil  law,  the  word 
religion  denotes  that  bondage  or  service  which  man  owes 
to  the  gods  on  the  understanding  that  he  is  entitled  to  an 
equivalent.  But  inasmuch  as  man  is  the  weaker  party 
in  wisdom  as  well  as  in  power,  he  must  be  most  attentive 
to  perform  minutely  his  part  of  the  agreement.  Religion 
therefore  turns  out  to  be  the  fear  lest  the  gods  should 
punish  men  for  neglect ;  it  is  a  constant  anxiety  about 
duties  they  have  to  perform,  a  scrupulousness  which 
makes  them  watch  their  own  actions  and  all  external 
events,  lest  the  anger  of  the  gods  should  be  roused,  and 
it  is  often  not  to  be  distinguished  from  superstition. 
Such  a  religion  would  have  struck  paralyzing  terror  into 
the. hearts  of  men,  and  would  have  rendered  them  igno- 
ble, crouching  slaves,  if  a  protection  had  not  been  found 
in  the  law  itself  to  shield  mortal  man  from  the  superior 
power  of  the  gods. 

The  religion  of  Rome  was  a  fully  and  carefully  elabo- 
rated legal  system.     It  laid  down  minutely 
the  duties  of  man,  and  the  fines  to  be  paid         asVfigal 
on   every   transgression.     It  regulated  the         system. 
intercourse  between  gods  and  men,  and  showed   how 
the  good-will  and  co-operation  of  the  gods  could  be  ob- 
tained by  a  certain  and  infallible  process.     It  was,  like 
the  civil  law,  full  of  fictions  and  casuistry.     It  imposed 
no  obligations  but  those  which  could  be  accurately  cir- 


loo  Early  Rome.  CH.  vi. 

cumscribed  by  the  number  and  quality  of  sacrifices  and 
services.  It  suggested  no  such  thing  as  love  or  trust  or 
hope.  The  notion  of  virtue  in  our  sense  of  the  word 
was  unknown.  Cicero  defines  piety  as  "justice  towards 
the  gods,"  and  he  adds  the  significant  words,  "  What 
piety  is  due  to  those  from  whom  we  have  received  no 
benefit  ?  "  It  is  clear  that  the  human  conscience  played 
a  very  insubordinate  part  in  such  a  religion.  Morality 
had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  Every  irrlquitous  action  was 
allowed  by  the  state  religion,  provided  a  man  could  show 
that  he  was  formally  in  the  right.  Even  the  gods  might 
be  cheated  lawfully  if  a  man  was  quick  and  sharp 
enough  to  avail  himself  of  some  formality  in  the  divine 
law,  or  could  interpret  a  doubtful  injunction  in  his 
favour.  An  omen  sent  by  the  gods  might  be  accepted 
or  rejected,  or  interpreted  in  the  most  convenient  and 
profitable  way.  A  false  and  lying  announcement  by  an 
augur  had  the  efficacy  of  a  true  one,  provided  it  was 
duly  made  in  the  prescribed  form.  Unlucky  signs  were 
not  allowed  to  prevent  any  undertaking  upon  which  a 
Roman  magistrate  was  bent.  It  was  only  necessary  to 
repeat  the  process  of  divination  until  the  desired  favour- 
able signs  appeared.  If  the  entrails  of  the  first  animal 
were  found  faulty,  a  second  was  slaughtered,  and  a  third, 
and  so  forth,  until  heart  and  liver  were  found  to  be  such 
as  foretold  success.  If  no  favourable  birds  would  ap- 
pear on  the  first  inspection  of  the  sky,  the  augur  had 
only  to  continue  his  observations  long  enough,  until  he 
saw  what  he  wished  to  see. 

The  whole  of  this  complicated  system  of  divine  law 

was   in   the   keeping   of  the  pontiffs.     But 

and  other  neither  the  pontiffs  nor  the  other  priests  con- 

pnests.  sthuted  an  independent  power  in  the  state. 

They  could  declare  what  the  law  was,  but  they  could 


CH.  VI.  Religious  Institutions.  lOl 

not  enforce  it  on  their  own  authority.  They  were  en- 
tirely subordinate  to  the  civil  magistrates,  and  theii 
principal  duty  was  to  serve  the  state.  A  conflict  between 
the  state  and  the  priesthood  was  impossible.  Even  if 
the  national  religion  had  not  been  so  intimately  bound 
up  with  and  dependent  upon  the  existence  of  the  state, 
the  priests  could  not  have  constituted  a  body  distinct 
from  the  rest  of  the  community,  and  bound  together  by 
interests  of  their  own.  They  possessed  none  of  the  con- 
ditions of  such  independence.  They  did  not,  like  the 
priests  of  India  and  Egypt,  form  a  separate  caste ;  but 
they  were  elected  for  life  from  among  the  body  of 
citizens,  the  high  pontiff  being  himself  generally  a  man 
of  mark  among  the  political  leaders.  Though  not 
magistrates  in  the  full  sense  of  the  word,  they  discharged 
public  functions  as  necessary  for  the  welfare  of  the  state 
as  any  which  were  committed  to  the  civil  servants. 
Among  these  services  none  was  more  important  than 
that  of  the  augurs,  who  presided  over  the  public  auspices, 
the  characteristic  procedure  by  which  the  Roman 
people  kept  up  their  official  intercourse  with  the  gods. 
As  a  clear  insight  into  the  nature  of  the  auspices  is 
necessary  for  understanding  the  relative  position  of 
religion  and  the  state,  we  must  delay  awhile  to  examine 
them. 

Every  nation  of  antiquity  had  its  peculiar  method  for 
ascertaining  the  will  of  the  gods.  The  Greeks  had  their 
oracles  and  dreams,  the  Chaldeans  consulted  the  stars, 
the  nations  of  Italy  looked  upon  striking  and  unusual 
natural  phenomena  as  special  revelations.  Thunder 
and  lightning,    earthquakes,   eclipses,   me-  . 

teoric  appearances  of  unexplained  character        forms  of 

.  r   ■  rr      .       ^  i  ^  divination. 

or  terrifymg  effect,  abnormal  or  monstrous 

formations  in  men  or  animals,  all  this  came  under  the 


I02  Early  Rome.  CH.  vi. 

head  of  "prodigies,"  awakened  the  "religion,"  that  is 
the  superstitious  fear,  of  the  people,  and  called  for  ex- 
planation on  the  part  of  the  initiated  priesthood;  or,  in 
case  of  necessity,  for  expiatory  sacrifices  and  services. 
But  apart  from  these  casual  manifestations  of  the  divine 
will,  there  were  methods  by  which  men  might  ascertain 
the  will  of  the  gods  whenever  occasion  required  it.  This 
was  regularly  done  before  any  act  or  enterprise  of  im- 
portance, whether  in  private  life  or  in  the  matters  of 
state.  No  election,  no  trial,  no  legislative  vote  could 
take  place,  no  war  could  be  undertaken,  no  battle  com- 
menced, before  the  assent  of  the  gods  had  been  given^ 
The  gods  allowed  their  worshippers  to  approach  and  to 
consult  them  at  all  times,  and  never  refused  a  reply  if 
the  proper  forms  were  employed.  They  sent  their 
"auspices"  to  the  magistrates  of  the  Roman  people 
through  the  interposition  of  the  augurs,  who  understood 
the  nature  and  the  meaning  of  the  prophetic  signs. 

The  auspices  formed  in  some  respect  the  very  heart 

and   centre  of   the  practical   religion   of  the   Romans. 

They  were  the  means  by  which  every  action 

e  auspices.     ^^  ^.^^  ^^^^  directed  conformably  with   the 

divine  will.  Every  private  citizen  could  employ  the 
augurs  and  consult  the  gods  for  his  own  guidance ;  the 
magistrates  alone  could  act  on  the  part  of  the  whole 
people  and  require  the  augurs  to  take  public  auspices. 
The  augur  on  such  occasions  took  his  station  in  a 
temphwi,  i.  e.  a  consecrated  plot  of  ground  within  certain 
defined  limits ;  he  divided  the  sky  above  him  with  his 
augural  staff  (the  lituus)  into  four  quarters,  and  watched 
for  the  appearance  of  the  sacred  birds  sent  by  Jupiter. 
As  they  appeared  in  one  or  the  other  of  the  divisions 
he  had  made,  so  they  were  pronounced  favourable 
or  unfavourable.     No  other  answer  was  vouchsafed  by 


CH.  VI.  Religious  Institutions.  103 

the  gods,  but  this  simple  yea  or  nay  to  the  question, 
whether  the  enterprise  in  hand  was  acceptable  to  them 
or  not.  No  direction  of  any  kind,  no  indication  of  what 
should  be  done  to  secure  the  desired  end,  was  ever  given. 
All  this  w^as  left  to  the  free  choice  of  men.  If  they 
failed  to  adopt  the  right  means,  it  was  their  fault ;  the 
gods  did  not  guarantee  success,  but  simply  declared  their 
approbation  or  disapprobation  of  the  undertaking  con- 
cerning which  they  were  consulted. 

This  system  of  taking  the  auspices  prevailed  in  Rome 
as  long  as  the  ancient  religion  lasted,  and  was  only  over- 
thrown by  the  victory  of  Christianity.     But 
it  did  not  always  continue  to  be  animated     Abuse  of  the 

_  ''  _         auspices. 

by  that  spirit  of  faith  which  had  given  it 
birth.  In  the  repubhcan  period  it  became  gradually  a 
mere  formality.  The  augurs  announced  as  the  will  of 
the  gods  whatever  they  were  expected  to  announce  ;  the 
gods  were  no  longer  allowed  to  put  in  their  veto.  The 
mode  of  taking  the  auspices  was  even  adapted  to  the 
altered  circumstances,  and  domestic  fowls,  kept  in  cages, 
v\'ere  made  to  indicate,  by  their  eagerness  or  slowness 
In  eating,  whether  the  gods  approved  or  condemned  an 
enterprise.  But  this  indifference  of  later  times  must  not 
mislead  us  with  regard  to  the  influence  exercised  at  an 
early  period  by  the  auspices  under  the  management  of 
the  priests.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  an  unfavourable 
sign  was  in  the  old  time  a  sufficient  motive  for  abandon- 
ing any  measure  resolved  upon  by  the  civil  power.  Even 
the  augurs  themselves  may  be  supposed  to  have  been 
honest,  and  to  have  been  frightened  by  unpropitious,  or 
encouraged  by  favourable  birds.  They  would  be  pre- 
vented by  their  own  "religion"  from  announcing  signs 
which  they  had  not  really  seen.  Such  a  priesthood,  firm 
in  its  own  faith,  exercised  no  doubt  an  influence  in  the 


I04  Early  Rome.  CH   vii. 

.     ,  .,      state  which    gave  to  the  whole  scheme  of 

Genuine  faith  ° 

of  the  old  government  a  hierarchical  chaiacter.     This 

time.  ,  ,  r     t 

was  the  character  of  the  earliest  period. 
Every  institution  of  a  religious  nature  was  then  in  full 
vigour;  the  secular  and  military  institutions  were  still  in 
their  infancy,  and  grew  up  under  the  shadow  of  the 
hierarchy.  Law  and  civil  policy  received  their  impulse 
and  first  impression  from  religion,  and  only  in  proportion 
as  the  religious  force  of  the  national  m.ind  was  spent  and 
unable  to  send  forth  new  offshoots,  or  even  to  keep  life 
in  the  old  roots,  did  the  development  of  civil  institutions 
take  its  own  independent  course.  It  is  certain  that  after 
the  establishment  of  the  republic  no  new  religious  rites 
grew  up  spontaneously,  whilst  many  of  the  old  ones  were 
preserved  merely  in  outward  form.  We  are  therefore 
entitled  to  say  that  the  early  regal  period  was  governed 
chiefly  by  sacerdotal  influence,  and  that  in  it  all  those 
institutions  were  in  full  working  efficiency  with  which  we 
become  acquainted  only  in  the  period  of  their  decay, 
when  they  were  more  and  more  superseded  by  the  poli- 
tical institutions  of  an  age  inclined  to  be  sceptical  and 
indifferent  in  religious  matters. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHARACTER  OF  THE  MONARCHY. 

The  chief  magistrate  of  this  age,  the  king  {rex),  was 
really  the  high  priest  of  the  nation  (p.  88).  He  was 
elected  for  life,  not  for  a  term  of  years  or  an  uncertain 
period.  The  man  once  chosen  for  the  service  of  the  gods 
was  consecrated  for  ever,  and  this  principle 
hi^h '^ r"es^^^  was  applied  to  the  priests  even  after  the  esta- 
blishment of  the  republic,  when  the  office 
of  the  civil  magistrates  was  held  for  a  definite  period. 


CH.  VII.  Character  of  the  Monarchy.  105 

The  king  was,  after  his  election,  formally  inaugurated, 
i.e.  the  gods  were  consulted  by  the  augurs  whether  they 
approved  of  him  as  their    servant.      This 
ceremony  of   inauguration   was   afterwards      Inauguration 
preserved  only  for  the  pontiffs   and   other 
priests.     The  consuls  did  not  require  it. 

But  probably  it  was  not  really  by  popular  election  that 
the  king  was  appointed.     We  know  that  the  priests  even 
of  the  republican  period  were  not  elected 
by   the  suffrages   of  the  people,  but   were  election 

nominated  by  other  priests.  We  may  there- 
fore infer  that  when  the  hierarchical  principle  was  in  full 
force,  that  is,  in  the  regal  period,  the  kings  were  nomina- 
ted by  the  between-kings  imterreges),  i.e.  by  those  sena- 
tors who,  according  to  a  prescribed  form,  were  selected 
from  among  the  senators  for  the  purpose  of  appointing 
a  successor. 

The  king,  we  are  informed,  did  not  judge  in  his  own 
person,  but  nominated  judges    [duumviri  perdMellionis 
and  qacBstores  parricidii)   to  try   offenders. 
It  is  quite  consistent  with  the  sacred  charac-      Criminal 

.  .  judges  ap- 

ter  of  a   priest-king  that  he  should  not  in      pointed  by 
person  exercise  criminal  jurisdiction.  ^   ^"^' 

It  is  more  difficult  to  decide  the  question  whether  the 
priest-king  ever  took  the  command  of  the  army  in  war. 
According   to   the    traditional    story   Numa 
Pompilius,  who  is  the  type   of  a  sacerdotal  comV^'^ 

king,    enjoyed    perpetual   peace.      Perhaps  '"^'^  ^'^^^ 

the  first  compilers  of  the  tales  of  the  kings  intended 
thereby  to  express  the  idea  that  it  did  not  agree  with  the 
sacred  character  of  the  king  to  take  the  field.  But 
if  the  sacerdotal  king  was  disqualified  from  military 
command,  it  follows  that  in  case  of  war  he  had  to 
find    a   substitute.     The    question    now    arises    whether 


io6  Early  Rome.  CH.  vii 

there  is  any  trace  of  magistrates  who  might  have  served 
as  commanders  of  the  army  in  the  earhest  period  of 
Roman  history. 

In  historical  times  we  often  hear  of  the  appointment 
of  Dictators  in  times  of  extraordinary  dangers.  We  are 
told  that  they  were  anciently  called  IMasters  of  the  peo- 
ple {Magistri  populi),  and  we  also  hear  of  the  office  of 
Chief  Praetor  [prcEtor  maxi?nus),\\\\\ch.  appears  to  have 
been  identical  with  that  of  master  of  the  people.  The 
custom  of  appointing  masters  of  the  people  or  chief  prae- 
tors certainly  preceded  the  establishment  of  the  repub- 
lic. It  is  not  unlikely  therefore  that  they  were  the  offi- 
cers who  in  the  time  of  the  sacerdotal  kings  took  com- 
mand of  the  army.  The  dictators  were  not  elected  by 
popular  suffrage,  like  the  other  republican  magistrates. 
They  were  nominated  by  one  of  the  consuls,  and  after 
nomination  they  had  to  assemble  the  people  and  to 
obtain  their  promise  of  obedience.  This  process  of  ap- 
pointment appears  to  date  from  pre-republican  times,  and 
we  may  perhaps  venture  to  say  that  a  similar  process 
was  adopted  on  the  appointment  of  the  ancient  masters 
of  the  people,  that  the  sacerdotal  king  nominated  them 
when  occasion  required,  and  that  they  obtained  the  for- 
mal sanction  of  the  people  by  a  resolution  which 
pledged  the  people  to  acknowledge  their  authority. 

If  this  was  the  constitutional  process  in  the  regal 
,     ,         period,  we  can  easily  imagine  how  it  came 

Sacerdotal  ^  '  /  ■,         i    i  • 

kings  to  pass    that   the  old  sacerdotal  kmg  was 

by^mmta%  Superseded  by  a  mihtary  monarch  (p.  88). 
chiefs.  -^Ye   need    only    suppose    that   a    magister 

Populi,  favoured  by  circumstances,  refused  to  lay  down 
the  power  lodged  in  his  hands.  The  temporary  chief  of 
the  army  would  thus  become  a  ruler  for  life,  and  the 
constitution  of  the  state  would  be  changed.      But  in  all 


CH.  VII.  Charactc?'  of  the  Monarchy.  107 

probability  the  revolution  resulted  not  in  a  violent  aboli- 
tion of  all  existing  institutions.  It  was  in  some  respects 
a  development  and  consolidation  of  certain  pre-existing 
elements,  and  it  was  a  decided  progress.  It  strengthened 
the  internal  unity  of  the  state,  abolished  the  remnants 
of  the  old  federal  system,  toned  down  the  undue  promi- 
nence of  the  religious  element  and  the  predominance  of 
the  priests,  and  brought  out  the  national  strength  by 
organizing  a  new  popular  assembly  and  a  new  army.  It 
destroyed  the  exclusive  privilege  of  a  rjling  class  of 
noble  houses,  and  thus  laid  the  foundations  upon  which, 
with  very  few  changes,  the  republic  could  be  established. 
By  the  side  of  the  old  sacerdotal  king  there  was  evi- 
dently no  room  for  another  chief  of  the  national  religion. 
There  could  have  been  no  high  pontiff  at  the  time  when 
a  priest-king  Hke  Numa  presided  over  the  institutions  of 
the  people.  This  inference  is  borne  out  by  the  legen- 
dary account.  Numa  is  related  to  have  appointed  a 
pontifex  of  the  name  of  Numa  Marcius. 
This  Numa  Marcius  is  evidently  no  other  appointed 
person   than  Numa   Pompilius  himself,  for        aboH^on  of 

the  addition  of  the  second  name  is  in  this        the  sacerdo- 
tal royalty. 

case,  as  in  many  others,  nothing  but  a  fee- 
ble attempt  of  the  annalists  to  make  two  persons  out 
of  one.  Moreover  the  identity  of  pontifex  and  king  in 
the  old  time  is  sufficiently  proved  by  the  fact  that  the 
ancient  palace  of  the  king,  the  regia,  was  at  the  same 
time  the  official  dwelling  of  the  pontifex  maximus. 

This  identity  of  king  and  pontiff  could  only  last  as 
long  as  the  king  was  essentially  a  priest  and  the  head 
of  the  national  relig  on.  When  a  military  chief  usurped 
the  supreme  power  the  old  sacerdotal  king  must  have 
been  stripped  of  his  political  authority.  It  was  mobt 
probably  by  this   revolution    that   ths   pontifical    duties 


io8  Early  Rome.  ch.  viil 

were  separated  from  the  political  and  transferred  to  a 
purely  sacerdotal  officer,  the  pontifex.  The  military 
king  could  no  more  take  upon  himself  the  exercise  of 
all  the  purely  sacerdotal  functions  than  in  an  earlier 
period  the  priest-king  could  have  commanded  the  army. 
A  new  arrangement  was  made.  The  priests  were  made 
dependent  on  the  magistrates,  and  religion  became  the 
handmaid  of  politics. 

Thus  it  was  that  the  primeval  policy  of  Rome,  which 
was  essentially  religious  or  sacerdotal,  passed  over  into  a 
military  monarchy.  When  at  a  later  stage  the  monarchy 
was  overthrown,  the  old  institutions  were  not  re-estab- 
lished, but  the  republican  magistrates  stepped  into  the 
place  of  the  military  kings,  and  religion  lost  more  and 
more  the  influence  which  it  had  once  possessed.  The 
title  and  office  of  priest-king  [rex  sacronun)  was  indeed 
preserved,  for  religious  scruples  forbade  their  formal 
abolition,  but  this  "  king  of  the  sacrifices"  was  debarred 
from  all  political  influence.  He  was  not  allowed  to  hold 
any  civil  office,  and  even  in  his  own  peculiar  depart- 
ment he  was  made  subordinate  to  the  chief  pontiff. 


CHAPTER  Vni. 

THE  SENATE  OF  THE  REGAL  PERIOD. 

If  in  the  earliest  constitution  of  Rome  the  king  was 
rather  the  head  of  the  national  religion  than  a  chief  ex- 
ecutive officer,  it  follows  that  the  community  required 
some  other  central  authority  invested  with  political 
power,  able  to  bind  together  the  federative  elements  of 
which  the  state  consisted,  and  to  direct  the  government. 
This  authority  was  lodged  in  the  senate,  a  body  of  men 
consisting  of  all  the  most  influential  heads  of  families. 


CH.  viir.      The  Senate  of  tJie  Regal  Period.  109 

and  therefore  appropriately  called  "  fathers  " 
{patres).  They  must  have  formed  a  kind  Je''fa«o^^^" 
of  representative  assembly,  although  the  [h?/s^^of  ^S^e 
idea  of  representation  in  the  modern  sense  great 
was  foreign  to  the  whole  ancient  world.  If 
it  is  reported  that  Romulus  chose  at  first  one  hundred 
men  to  be  senators,  that  this  number  was  doubled  on 
the  union  with  the  Sabines,  and  that  under  Tarquin  one 
hundred  more  were  added,  we  understand  that  the  ear- 
liest annalists  considered  three  hundred  to  have  been 
the  normal  number  of  senators,  and  that  this  number 
was  reached  gradually.  Now  this  number  agreed  with 
the  division  of  the  people  in  the  prehistoric  time,  viz  , 
the  three  tribes  (Ramnes,  Tities,  and  Luceres),  divided 
into  thirty  curies,  and  (probably)  three  hundred  gentes 
or  houses.  It  would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  ancient 
senate  was  intended  to  contain  a  member  of  each  of  the 
houses,  and  in  so  far  these  houses  were  in  fact  all  "rep- 
resented" in  the  senate. 

If  that  was  so,  it  seems  that  the  individual  members 
could  hardly  have  been  freely  chosen  by  the  king,  as  in 
republican  times  they  were  by  the  consuls,  and  after- 
wards by  the  censors.  It  would  seem  more  natural  that 
each  house  had  a  right  to  be  represented  in  the  senate 
by  its  head  [pafer],  though  probably  the  formal  nomina- 
tion may  have  been  the  king's  privilege  or  duty. 

As  a  consequence  of  this  inherent  right  of  the  heads 
of  houses  to  form  the  senate,  it  would  naturally  follow 
that  the  senate  was  not  merely,  as  it  was  in  republican 
times,  a  consultative  body,  but  that  it  would  share  to  a 
certain  extent  the  executive  government  of  the  state. 
This  we  may  moreover  infer  from  certain  formal  rights 
which  the  republican  senate  retained,  and  which  were 
probably  only  the  remnants  of  rights  more  real  and  ex- 
I 


no  Early  Rome.  CH.  viii. 

„^       ^    .       tensive  of  older  date.     We  know  that  the 

The  authority 

of  the  consent  called  "authority  of  the  fathers" 

[patriim  aiicto7'itas)  was  required  for  all 
elections  and  all  legislative  acts  of  the  people.  This 
right  may  be  presumed  to  have  been  of  much  more  im- 
portance in  the  earlier  period. 

A  second  privilege  of  the  senate  in  republican  times 
was  the  right  of  deciding  when  a  dictator  should  be 
named.  It  seems  a  safe  conclusion  that,  in  the  time  of 
the  sacerdotal  kings,  it  was  in  like  manner  the  senate 
which  determined  when  a  magister  populi  should  be 
elected  to  take  the  military  command. 

But  the  most  significant  remnant  of  ancient  preroga- 
tive possessed  by  the  senators  even  in  historical  times 
was  the  right  of  acting  as  interreges  (between-kings)  i.  c. 
of  taking  upon  themselves  the  executive 
The  inter-         power  in  the  mterre^nujn,  the  interval  be- 

regnum.  ^  ^  ' 

tween  the  death  of  duly  elected  magistrates 
and  the  installation  of  their  successors.  Such  an  event 
would  more  rarely  happen  in  the  time  of  the  republic, 
when  two  chief  magistrates  were  annually  appointed  ; 
but  it  regularly  occurred  in  the  regal  period  on  the  death 
of  a  king.  Then  it  was  that  the  senate  as  a  body  stepped 
into  the  king's  place,  one  senator  after  another  acting 
as  "interrex"  for  five  days,  until  a  new  king  was  ap- 
pointed. At  such  times  the  right  to  take  the  auspices 
which  had  been  possessed  by  the  deceased  king  passed 
over  to  the  body  of  the  senators.  These  men  stood  for- 
ward now  as  the  mediators  between  the  Roman  gods 
and  the  Roman  people  ;  they  took  care  that  the  link 
was  not  broken  between  the  two,  that  the  auspices  could 
be  duly  taken,  and  that,  with  the  consent  of  the  gods,  a 
new  king  should  be  appointed. 

The  senate,  therefore,  occupied  a  most  influential  posi- 


c:h.  IX         The  People  in  the  Regal  Period.  1 1 1 

tion  under  the  sacerdotal  kings.     When  the  revolution 
took  place,  which  placed  military  kings  at       _    „ 

,        ,  1       r     ,  ,  ^-  ^.  Conflict 

the  head  of  the  state,  we  hear  of  conflicts  between  the 
between  them  and  the  senate.  The  younger  thela^teT 
Tarquin  is  said  to  have  expelled  and  even  kings, 
murdered  many  senators,  and  to  have  in  fact  superseded 
the  senate  altogether.  He  was  not  nominated  in  due 
form  by  an  interrex,  and  was  therefore,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  the  ancient  public  law,  a  usurper  not  entitled  to 
take  the  public  auspices  of  the  Roman  people.  When 
he  was  expelled,  the  power  of  the  senate  revived,  and 
new  senators  were  appointed  in  the  place  of  those  whom 
Tarquin  had  killed.  In  fact,  a  regular  aristocratic  resto- 
ration took  place.  The  liberty  gained  by  the  downfall 
of  the  tyrant  was  not  a  liberty  for  the  lower  classes  of 
citizens,  but  a  liberty  for  the  nobility,  who  exercised 
their  power  in  a  spirit  so  hostile  to  the  people  that  the 
Tarquins  were  looked  upon  with  tender  regret.  The 
people  were  soon  driven  to  rise  against  their  oppressors, 
and  to  force  them  to  concessions  by  seceding  in  a  body 
to  the  Sacred  Hill,  and  threatening  to  separate  them- 
selves from  Rome. 

The  secession  to  the  Sacred  Hill  was  the  commence- 
ment of  the  growth  of  popular  liberties.  To  understand 
it  we  must  examine  the  condition  of  the  people  in  the 
preceding  period. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

THE  PEOPLE  IX  THE  REGAL  PERIOD. 

The  Roman  people  were  not  a  homogeneous  mass. 
Apart  from  actual  slaves,  who  were  never  classed  with 
the  people  in  any  ancient  community,  we  observe  two 
distinct  classes  of  citizens,  the  patricians   and  the  pie- 


1 1 2  Early  Rome.  CH.  ix. 

beians,  i.  e.  the  ruling  class  of  citizens  in  the 

The  people.  .  -     ,         ^   ,,    ^  ,  .  , 

Patricians  and  posscssion  of  the  full  franchise,  and  an  in- 
plebeians.  fcrior  dependent  class.  A  similar  distinction 

between  two  classes  of  citizens  we  find  in  every  state  of 
antiquity.  It  owes  its  origin  to  conquest  and  to  the  ne- 
cessity under  which  the  conquerors  found  themselves  of 
admitting  the  conquered  races  to  some  sort  of  civil  fel- 
lowship. The  rule  was,  that  the  inferior  class  were 
allowed  to  enjoy  certain  private  rights  of  property  and 
personal  security.  They  were  not  slave?  in  the  full  sense 
of  the  word;  for  slaves  never  enjoyed  the  protection  of 
the  law  for  either  property  or  life.  But  the  conquered 
race  was  not  admitted  to  civil  equality  with  the  conque- 
rors. They  had  to  bear  the  civil  burdens  in  return  for 
the  protection  they  enjoyed;  they  had  especially  to  join 
their  rulers  in  the  defence  of  the  common  country;  but 
they  were  excluded  from  the  political  rights  of  the  sove- 
reign people,  i.  e.,  from  a  voice  in  the  national  assem- 
blies, whether  for  the  election  of  magistrates,  or  for 
resolutions  affecting  the  national  policy,  or  for  legisla- 
tion, or  finally,  for  the  trial  of  offenders. 

All  these  functions  accordingly  devolved  in  Rome 
exclusively  on  the  patricians,  z.  e.  the  members  of  those 
families  who  had  founded  the  state  by  conquest  They 
alone  formed  what  was  anciently  called  the  "  populus 
Romanus"  in  opposition  to  the  plebs.  This  patrician 
populus  was  divided  into  tribes,  curiae,  and 

Patrician  ■,  ■,         r  •        i 

assembly  of  gcntes.  ThQ  ^.ssQmbXy  01  cuxiQ.?,  [comttia  cu- 
cu"3e.  riafa)  was  consequently  an  assembly  of  pa- 

tricians only ;  at  least,  it  seems  clear  that  plebeians,  if 
admitted  to  listen  or  to  be  present  when  the  curies  met, 
took  no  active  part  m  their  decisions. 

The  comitia  curiata  were  the  only  popular  assemblies 
known  in  the  earliest  period,  when  the  national  institu- 


CH.  IX.        The  People  in  the  Regal  Period.  113 

tions  bore  a  pre-eminently  religious  character,  and  the 
original  confederacy  had  not  yet  been  fully  developed 
into  a  real  state  with  a  centralized,  secular  government. 
The  assembly  voted  by  curies,  that  is,  there  were  thirty 
votes,  all  the  members  of  one  curia  uniting  to  form  one 
vote.  The  king  presided,  and  all  questions  of  national  im- 
portance were  here  decided,  viz.,  the  election  (or  perhaps 
only  the  inauguration)  of  kings,  the  investment  of  a 
commander  with  military  power  [the  lex  curiatia  de 
imperio),  declarations  of  war,  the  trial  of  offenders,  and 
finally  the  adoption  of  laws,  if  formal  legislation  can  be 
supposed  to  have  taken  place  at  that  time. 

The    constitution   of  Rome  exhibits   with   regard   to 
popular  assemblies  a  feature  not  found  anywhere  else. 
It  i^  this,  that  not  less  than  three  different 
forms  of  such    assemblies  existed   side  by      different 
side  differently  organized  and  having  each      popular 

,  assemblies. 

its  own  peculiar  functions.  The  assembly 
of  curies,  of  which  we  have  just  spoken,  was  the  oldest 
and  for  a  time  the  only  assembly.  In  the  second  period 
of  the  kings  was  organized  the  military  assembly  of 
centuries,  which  was  destined  chiefly  for  the  election  of 
military  commanders  for  decisions  about  peace  and  war 
and  for  the  trial  of  those  citizens  who  had  broken  the 
peace  and  were  therefore  looked  upon  as  public  ene- 
mies. The  third  form  of  assemblies,  the  comitia  tributa, 
was  introduced  in  consequence  of  the  rising  of  the  plebs. 
They  included  only  plebeians,  and  were  at  first  confined 
to  the  election  of  plebeian  magistrates  (the  tribunes 
of  the  people  and  the  plebeian  ^diles)  and  to  ques- 
tions concerning  the  plebs  alone.  But  in  course  of  time 
this  last  assembly  acquired  more  and  more  importance, 
and  was  invested  with  the  character  of  a  national 
assembly       The   peculiar   organization   of  these   three 


114  Early  Rome.  ch.  ix. 

assemblies  constitutes  the  distinguishing  feature  of  the 
three  successive  periods  of  the  Roman  constitution.  We 
shall  become  acquainted  with  the  centuriate  assembly 
when  we  come  to  review  the  republican  government  in 
its  oldest  form,  and  with  the  assemblies  of  tribes  when 
we  examine  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  tribunician 
power.  Of  the  curiatic  assembly  we  need  say  no  more 
than  that  as  far  as  real  life  and  influence  are  concerned 
it  was  a  thing  of  the  past  when  Rome  emerged  from  the 
prehistoric  period.  It  was  then  one  of  those  unmeaning 
forms  which  the  Romans  preserved  from  their  national 
veneration  for  old  institutions,  and  which  enable  the 
historian  to  form  an  opinion  of  times  otherwise  buried 
in  utter  obhvion. 

The   patricians,  as   we   have  seen,  formed  the  ruling 
body.  By  the  side  of  them  there  existed  from  the  earliest 
times  a  subordinate  class  called  plebeians,  enjoying  in- 
deed the  name  of  Roman   citizens  and  entitled  to  the 
protection   of   life   and   property,    differing 

Rights  of  the  therefore  widely  from  slaves,  but  still  ex- 
plebeians. 

eluded   from    a   share   in  the  government, 

from  the  senate,  the  assembly  of  curies,  the  auspices  of 
the  State,  and  from  intermarriage  with  the  patricians. 
They  thus  formed  a  distinct  body,  a  subject  population 
bound  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the  state  without  sharing 
in  its  government.  They  had  no  doubt  a  separate  or- 
ganization to  manage  their  own  affairs,  their  peculiar 
sanctuaries,  their  assemblies,  religious  and  social,  their 
own  officers  for  administrative  and  judicial  purposes. 
But  of  these  things  we  can  only  form  conjectures,  based 
upon  the  institutions  of  a  later  period,  as  no  satisfactory 
evidence  can  be  traced  back  to  the  period  of  the  kings. 
Nor  are  we  better  informed  of  the  origin  of  the  plebe- 
ians.    According  to  the  traditional  story,  it  was  Romulus 


CH.  IX.        The  People  in  the  Regal  Period.  115 

who  by  his  own  will  and  pleasure  divided 
the  whole  mass  of  citizens  into  patricians  ^gfj'^"^'^® 
and  plebeians.  This  account  is  no  more  to 
be  trusted  than  the  stories  of  the  legislation  of  Romulus 
and  Numa.  Dependent  classes  are  not  made  by  legisla- 
tors ;  they  are  the  result  of  political  revolutions.  The 
Roman  plebeians  must  have  been  the  descendants  of  a 
population  reduced  to  subjection  by  conquest.  But 
when  and  how  this  was  done  is  beyond  the  reach  of  our 
knowledge.  It  is  possible  that  the  original  population 
of  the  country  was  at  one  time  conquered  by  an  inva- 
ding host  of  new  settlers  and  then  reduced  to  the  condi- 
tions of  plebeians ;  it  is  possible  also  that  the  invaders 
brought  with  them  a  class  of  dependents,  the  result  of  a 
previous  conquest.  We  cannot  speculate  on  these  possi- 
bilities with  any  prospect  of  profit,  and  must  rest  satisfied 
with  a  general  impression  rendered  plausible  by  analogy. 
A  certain  number  of  plebeians  were  distinguished 
from  the  rest  by  the  name  of  clients.  These  clients  ap- 
pear to  have  been  attached  as  hereditary       „,     ,. 

^  ...  The  clients. 

dependents    to    certain   patrician   families. 
Each  patrician  had  a  number,  of  whom  he  was  called 
the  "patron."     He  was  bound  specially  to  watch  over 
their  interests,  and  to  act  as  their  legal  protector,  whilst 
in  return  they  paid  him  fixed  dues  and  services. 

The  clients  seem  to  have  played  an  important  part 
in  the  early  period.  They  are  often  mentioned  as  the 
special  partisans  of  the  patricians  in  their  disputes  with 
the  plebs.  They  would  appear  therefore  to  have  been 
practically  a  distinct  class  of  citizens,  although  the  law 
knew  only  patricians  and  plebeians,  and  classed  the 
clients  among  the  latter.  In  course  of  time  the  difference 
between  clients  and  other  plebeians  disappeared.  The 
old    clientship   became  a  thing  of  the  past,   and   was 


ii6  Early  Rome.  ch.  x. 

replaced  by  a  new  clientship  of  a  somewhat  different 
order,  with  which  the  early  history  of  Rome  has  no 
concern. 

It  is    not    at   all    unlikely  that   the    condition  of  the 

plebeians   was    improved   by    the    military    kings,    who 

limited  the  power  of  the  more  aristocratic 

kiigs"lhe'''^       form  of  government  in  which  the  heads  of 

patrons  of  patrician  houses,  assembled  in  the  senate, 

the  plebs.  ^ 

ruled  the  state  under  the  nominal  control  of 
a  sacerdotal  king.  The  establishment  of  the  comida 
centuriata,  which  first  gave  political  rights  to  the  ple- 
beians, is  ascribed  to  Servius  Tullius.  The  Tarquins,  who 
are  represented  as  hostile  to  the  nobility,  must  have  re- 
lied upon  the  support  of  the  plebeians,  and  we  are  told 
that  upon  the  expulsion  of  the  kings  the  patricians  were 
compelled  to  make  concessions  to  the  plebeians,  in  order 
to  reconcile  them  to  the  republican  government.  We 
are  told,  moreover,  that  as  soon  as  all  danger  of  a  resto- 
ration of  the  kings  was  past,  the  patricians  showed  them- 
selves less  conciliatory  to  the  plebeians,  and  that  the 
latter  were  thus  forced  into  an  open  rebellion,  which 
threatened  the  state  with  dissolution,  and  was  only 
brought  to  an  end  by  fresh  concessions  on  the  part  of 
the  patricians.  This  rebellion  is  the  famous  secession 
to  the  Sacred  Hill,  the  starting-point  of  plebeian  liber> 
ties,  to  which  we  shall  soon  have  to  turn  our  attention. 


CHAPTER   X. 

THE   MAGISTRATES    OF   THE   REPUBLIC. 

It  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  look  upon  the  republican 
institutions,  established  after  the  fall  of  the  Tarquin 
monarchy,  as  an  entirely  new  creation.     We  have  al- 


CH.  X.  MagLstratds  of  the  Republic.  117 

ready  had  occasion  to  observe  that  such  new  creations 
are  unknown  in  the  history  of  the  human  race,  and  that 
all  that  appears  to  be  new  in  constitutional  reforms  is  in 
fact  only  a  development  of  existing  germs.  This  can  be 
satisfactorily  shown  to  have  been  the  case  at  Rome,  in 
this  early  period  of  its  career,  as  it  was  at  every  subse- 
quent stage. 

The  division  of  the  people  into  patricians  and  ple- 
beians  remained   what   it  had   been.      The    patrician 
assembly  of  curies  retained  its  religious  character ;  the 
military  and  political  assembly  of  centuries  came  into 
regular  working   order  ;    the   Senate    con- 
tinued to  be  the  great  council  of  the  nation,         in  the 
but  a  change  was  made  in  the  executive. 
In  the  place  of  a  king  for  life  two  annual  chief  magis- 
trates were  appointed  under   the  name  of  "praetors," 
which  name  was  afterwards  changed  into 

.1      .      r  /.  1     ).       -T-     ^1  1  •  The  con- 

that  of  "  consuis.       To  these  annual  magis-        suiar  office. 

trates  the  power  of  the  kingly  office  was 
transferred  undiminished,  as  were  also  the  insignia  of 
the  kings.     The  change  seemed  slight ;  yet  it  was  most 
important.     For   by    the    Hmitation    of  the 
office  to  a  short  period  of  time,  the  Romans  in  T/nfe. 

secured  the  personal  responsibility  of  their 
chief  magistrates,  which  is  the  most  essential  part  of  re- 
publican government.  During  his  term  of  office  a 
magistrate  could  not  have  been  subject  to  a  criminal 
prosecution  and  punishment  without  derogating  from  the 
majesty  of  the  state,  as  represented  by  him,  and  without 
danger  to  the  safety  of  the  republic  itself.  But  his  term 
of  office  being  over,  the  consul  became  a  private  citizen, 
and  was  amenable  to  the  laws.  This  prospect  of  an  im- 
pending settlement  of  accounts  was  calculated  to  keep 
an  annual  magistrate  in  the  path  of  duty,  whilst  a  king 


ii8  Early  Rome.  CH.  x. 

who  retained  power  as  long  as  he  lived  was  free  from 
such  salutary  considerations. 

The  second  modification  in  the  office  of  chief  magis- 
trate was  its  partition  among  two  colleagues,  equal  in 
every  respect  in  rank  and  power.  This  measure,  which 
necessarily  impaired  to  some  extent  the  unity  and  vigour 

of  the  executive,  was  adopted  as  a  precau- 
ainong^two"  tion  against  the  abuse  of  authority.  Not 
colleagues.  satisfied  with  the  limitation  of  the  office  to 
a  short  annual  period,  the  Ronians  desired  a  guarantee 
for  their  liberty  even  during  that  period,  and  they 
expected   to    find   it   in   the    control  which   one    consul 

might  exercise  over  the  other.  Each  of 
Right  of  in-       them  was  entrusted  consequently  with  the 

tercession.  ^  ■' 

right  of  "  intercession,"  z.  e.  he  could  place 
his  veto  on  any  official  act  of  his  colleague.  Such  a 
right  might  of  course  be  abused  to  the  great  detriment 
of  the  public  interest ;  but  coupled  with  the  responsi- 
bility which  awaited  every  consul  after  the  expiration  of 
his  term  of  office,  it  proved  on  the  whole  so  successful 
that  the  Romans  adhered  to  it  cheerfully  through  all  the 
vicissitudes  of  their  history,  until  the  repubhcan  govern- 
ment passed  into  a  monarchy. 

However,  they  were  not  blind  to  the  weakness  of  the 
arrangement,  which  they  had  adopted  out  of  jealousy 
for  their  liberties.  Whenever  it  was  found  that  the 
division  of  authority  endangered  the  national  independ- 
ence, in  great  emergencies  of  foreign  or  domestic  con- 
flicts, they  had  recourse   to  a  temporary  restoration  of 

undivided  authority,  by  appointing  a  single 
The  die-  chief  officer,  called  Dictator,   to   supersede 

tatorship.  ^ 

the  two  consuls,  and  to  unite  in  his  own 
hands  the  whole  executive  power  as  it  had  been  pos- 
sessed by  the  kings. 


CH.  X.  Magistrates  of  the  Republic.  119 

A  dictator  was  appointed  after  a  decree  of  the  senate, 
not  by  popular  suffrage,  but  by  one  of  the  consuls,  who, 
although  nominally  free  in  his  choice,  would  naturally 
name  the  man  pointed  out  by  the  general  confidence  as 
equal  to  the  occasion.  The  consent  of  the  people  to  his 
nomination  was  expressed  by  a  solemn  act  of  the  as- 
sembly of  curies  (not  the  centuries),  which  being  sum- 
moned by  the  dictator  himself,  conferred  upon  him  (by 
the  so-called  lex  curiaia)  the  "  Imperium,"  /.  e.  the  chief 
and  unlimited  military  command.  The  dictator  then 
appointed  an  officer  second  in  command,  called  "  Mas- 
ter of  the  Horse"  [jnagister  eqidttmi),  to  act  under  his 
orders.  The  consuls  and  all  other  magistrates  were 
suspended  during  the  time  the  dictator  carried  on  the 
government,  and  they  re-entered  on  their  offices  the 
moment  he  abdicated.  This  he  did  as  soon  as  the 
emergency  which  had  called  for  his  nomination  was 
over,  the  maximum  term  of  his  office  being  six 
months. 

Our  authorities  are  not  agreed  as  to  the  time  when  the 
dictatorship  was  first  established,  nor  as  to  the  name  of 
the  first  man  who  filled  the  office.  They  agree  in  so  far 
that  it  belongs  to  the  first  period  of  the  re-  n  ■  •  r 
public.  It  is,  in  all  likelihood,  of  still  higher  the  dictator- 
antiquity  ;  in  fact,  those  officers  who  led  the  ^  '^' 
legions  of  Rome  in  the  earliest  times,  in  the  age  of  the 
sacerdotal  kings,  were  probably  dictators  or  the  proto- 
types of  dictators.  We  have  already  (p.  no)  pointed 
out  the  probability  that  the  of^cial  names  "  master  of  the 
people"'  [inagister  popiili^  and  "  first  praetor"  [prcstor 
iriaximiis\  which  are  reported  to  have  been  synony- 
mous with  the  title  of  dictator,  were  used  to  designate 
these  chief  officers  in  the  pre-republican  age.  They 
were  certainly  not  used  afterwards,  and  as  they  were 


I20  Early  Rome.  CH  x. 

titles  of  high  antiquity,  we  are  led  to  assume  that  they 
were  applied  to  a  constitutional  office  in  the  oldest 
period  of  Rome. 

If  this  conjecture  prove  correct,  we  see  that  the  repub- 
lican practice  was  also  in  this  respect  far  from  being  an 
entire  novelty,  and  that  the  forms  of  the  republican  in- 
stitutions were  partly  a  revival,  partly  a  development  of 
a  former  state  of  thinsrs.  We  may  go  further  and  say, 
that  in  all  probability  the  duality  of  the  chief  office,  i.  e. 
the  consular  form  of  government,  was  probably  not  in- 
troduced immediately  upon  the  expulsion  of  the  kings, 
but  that  that  event  was  followed  in  the  first  instance  by 
the  restoration  of  the  dictatorship,  which  in  its  turn  was 
modified  to  give  place  to  the  consular  government. 

Such  a  course  of  events  is  made  highly  probable  by 
the  traditions  which  clung  to  the  name  of  Valerius 
Poplicola.  It  is  related  that  after  the  death 
Poplicola.  of  Brutus,  his  colleague,  in  the  first  year  of 

the  republic  (p.  62),  he  remained  alone  in 
office  as  sole  consul,  and  omitted  to  call  an  assembly 
of  the  people  for  the  election  of  a  second  consul.  This 
proceeding,  it  is  said,  gave  umbrage  to  the  people, 
especially  as  Valerius  began  to  build  himself  a  house  on 
the  Velia,  the  very  spot  where  the  kings  had  resided.  It 
was  feared  that  he  was  about  to  imitate  the  example  of 
Tarquin,  and  aspired  to  make  himself  sole  and  per- 
petual master.  But  Valerius  put  to  shame 
The  Vale-         ^  {^^^  ^^^  ^|j  suspicion.    He  proposed  and 

nan  laws.  ^  r      r 

passed  a  law  in  the  centuriate  assembly,  by 
which  it  was  declared  high  treason  in  a  citizen  to  assume 
public  authority  which  was  not  legally  and  freely  con- 
ferred upon  him  by  the  people  ;  in  other  words,  a  law 
punishing  by  outlawry  and  confiscation  any  attempt  to 
restore  the  monarchv.    A  second  law  of  Valerius  granted 


CH.  X.  Magistrates  of  the  Republic.  121 

to  every  citizen  the  right  of  appeal  from  a  penal  sentence 
of  the  magistrates  to  the  popular  assembly.  These  two 
laws  contained  the  formal  abolition  of  the  monarchy, 
and  secured  the  acknowledgment  of  the  sovereignty  of 
the  people.  To  mark  this  by  an  outward  sign,  Valerius 
ordered  the  axes  to  be  removed  from  the  fasces  of  his 
lictors,  and  thus  appeared  before  the  people  without  the 
dreaded  instruments  of  death,  which  had  been  a  signifi- 
cant part  of  the  royal  and  dictatorial  insignia.  From 
this  time  forward  the  consuls  did  not  show  the  axes 
within  the  precincts  of  the  city.  This  symbol  of  power 
over  life  and  death  was  reserved  to  the  dictators,  and  in 
case  of  war  to  the  consuls  in  the  field. 

The  tradition  of  the  policy  of  Valerius  deserves  credit 
inasmuch  as  it  was  necessarily  kept  alive  by  the  con- 
tinued enforcement  of  the  Valerian  laws,  the  charter  of 
the  republic.  It  points  unmistakably  to  the  fact  that  the 
annual  election  of  two  magistrates,  which  is  the  charac- 
teristic mark  of  the  republic,  was  preceded  by  a  period 
in  which  not  two,  but  one  man  was  at  the  head  of  the 
state,  and  that  the  time  of  office  was  not  then  strictly 
limited  to  one  year.  This  dictatorship,  again,  was  not  a 
new  invention,  but  the  revival  of  the  old,  or  perhaps, 
primeval  office  of  an  occasional  "  master  of  the  people," 
which  had  degenerated  in  the  time  of  the  Tarquins  into 
government  for  life. 

The  duties  of  government  in  the  states  of  antiquity 
were  very  simple,  especially  in  states  so  small  and  so 
little  advanced  in  civilization  as   Rome  was    _    . 

Duties  of  the 

m  the  earlier    stages    of  her   career.     The    consular 
principal  duty  devolving  upon  the  consuls 
was  the  command  of  the  army  in  those  everlasting  petty 
wars  in  which  Rome,  like  every  small  and  rude  com- 
munity, was  involved.     To  maintain  the  independence 


122  Early  Rome.  CH.  x. 

of  the  state  is  the  primary  object  of  all  national  institu- 
tions, and  the  military  organization  was  therefore  the 
foundation  for  all  civil  order  ;  the  army,  as  we  shall  see, 
was  the  model  for  the  popular  assembly. 

Internal    peace,    not   less    important   than    protection 

from  abroad,  was  secured  by  the  laws,  and  here  again 

the  duties  of  the  Roman    magistrates  were 

Administra-       very  simple.     For  the  settlement  of  private 

tion  of  justice.  j  r  r 

disputes  and  claims,  private  arbitrators 
agreed  upon  by  the  parties  acted  under  the  authority  and 
sanction  of  the  magistrates.  Criminal  jurisdiction  alone 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  magistrates  ;  but  the  consuls 
could  (like  the  kings)  appoint  judges  (quaestors)  for  the 
trial  of  offenders.  An  ap^'eal  lay  from  the  decision  of 
the  magistrate  to  the  popular  assembly,  which  was  thus 
constituted  the  highest  court  of  law  in  criminal  jurisdic- 
tion. 

The  public  jurisdiction  was  to  a  considerable  extent 

limited  by  the  private   jui'sdiction    exercised   by  eveiy 

paterfamilias  ow^er  the  members  of  his  family 

Private  ^-^^  ]^i5  slaves.    As  he  had  power  of  life  anvl 

jurisdiction.  ^ 

death,  it  may  eas'ly  be  imagined  how  im- 
portant this  family  jurisdiction  m:rst  have  been. 

Religion  being  in  Rome,   as  evt-iy  where  in  antiquity, 
a  political  and  national  institution,  and  therefore  neces- 
sarily under  the  control   uf  the   state,   the 

The  priests  .      '  .     .  .        ..    . 

public  priests  and  other  mmisters  oi  reJ'gion  wcr 

servants.  ^^  ^  certain  extent  public  servants  ;  ^hougt 

they  differed  from  the  secular  magistrates  in  being  ap- 
pointed not  by  the  people  but  by  other  priests,  and  noi 
for  a  limited  term,  but  for  life.  They  were  not  confine(^ 
to  their  priestly  functions.  They  might  hold  civil  offices, 
and  it  could  and  did  happen  that  even  the  chief  pontiff, 
the  head  of  the  national  worship,  was  praetor  or  consul. 


CH.  X.  Magistrates  of  the  Republic.  123 

The  king  of  sacrifices  [rex  sacrorum)  was  the  sohtary 
exception.  He  was  not  only  lowered  in  authority,  being 
placed  under  the  chief  pontiff,  though  nominally  first  in 
rank,  but  he  was  specially  debarred  from  all  public  func- 
tions, civil  or  military.  His  office  was  preserved  only  as 
a  relic  of  past  times,  and  this  is  among  the  most  note- 
worthy examples  of  that  superstitious  conservatism  which 
made  the  Romans  scruple  formally  to  abolish  old  insti- 
tutions, even  when  they  were  superseded  in  reality. 
This  tendency  is  especially  perceptible  when  the  old  in- 
stitutions were  sanctioned  by  religion,  introduced  by  aus- 
pices with  the  special  approbation  of  the  gods,  and  con- 
nected with  solemn  periodical  rites,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  office  of  the  king  of  sacrifices. 

The  office  of  pontiff  was  by  far  the  most  important  of 
all  those  connected  with  religion.  The  pontiffs,  three  in 
number  (afterwards  seven),  with  a  high  pon-    _,  ._ 

^  ''  ox-  The  pontiffs 

tiff  [pontifex  viaximus)  at  their  head,  were    the  interpre- 

1  .    ,  ^  ^1  J       ters  of  divine 

not  priests  m  the  strict  sense  of  the  word,  and  human 
not  being  specially  attached  to  the  service  ^^^' 
of  any  particular  god.  They  were  rather  a  body  of  su- 
perintendents, guardians  of  the  purity  of  the  national 
religion  and  worship,  interpreters  of  the  divine  law ;  and 
as  the  divine  law  [fas]  was  the  foundation  of  civil  law, 
they  were  in  possession  of  all  those  forms  and  technicali- 
ties which  constituted  a  most  essential  feature  in  Roman 
jurisprudence,  and  the  exclusive  knowledge  of  which  was 
doubly  valuable  at  a  time  when  the  laws  were  not  com- 
mitted to  writing  but  jealously  watched  as  a  sacred  and 
secret  treasure.  In  the  maze  of  numberless  and  subtle 
intricacies  which  the  complicated  system  of  religious  ob- 
servances could  not  fail  to  present,  the  people,  whether 
in  their  private  capacity  or  as  public  servants,  were 
obliged  constantly  to  have  recourse  to  the  pontiffs,  who 


124  Early  Rome.  CH.  x. 

would  advise  them  what  solemn  words  had  to  be  spoken, 
what  times  and  seasons  to  be  obseived,  what  gestures 
and  dress,  what  purifications  and  sacrifices  were  neces- 
sary to  avert  the  anger  of  a  deity  ever  ready  to  avenge 
the  least,  even  involuntary,  deviation  from  the  prescribed 
rule.  When  a  word  wrongfully  omitted  or  added,  or  an 
omen  misinterpreted  or  neglected,  might  possibly  bring 
irretrievable  ruin  on  a  worshipper,  and  could  at  any  rate 
be  expiated  only  by  a  certain  definite  rite  or  sacrifice, 
the  advice  of  the  pontiffs  must  have  been  in  constant  re- 
quest, and  their  influence  must  have  been  unbounded. 

Besides  the  strictly  religious  duties  which  they  had  to 

discharge,  the  pontiffs  represented   in   some  sense  the 

science  and  literature  of  the  nation,  like  the 

and  the  Christian  clergy  amid   the  universal  iecno- 

guardians  of  °\  ° 

science  and      rance  of  the  middle  ages.     They  were  the 

learning.  ,  ,.  ,         .  /-         i  •. 

public  astronomers,  havmg  to  fix  the  sol- 
emn days  for  worship  and  political  transactions,  to 
divide  the  year  into  months  and  weeks,  to  keep  it  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  course  of  the  sun,  a  duty  which  they 
discharged  with  reckless  irregularity,  partly  from  igno- 
rance, partly  to  serve  political  and  party  purposes.  They 
were  also,  as  we  have  seen  (page  22),  the  national 
chroniclers,  and  as  such  were  bound  to  cultivate  what 
might  be  called  a  literature.  But  their  annals  were  no 
great  literary  performances,  and  the  literature  of  Rome 
remained  in  a  rudimentary  condition,  until  Greek  influ- 
ence made  itself  felt. 

The  public  auspices  were  in  the  keeping  of  another 

body  of  religious  functionaries,  the  Augurs,  who  like  the 

pontiffs  were  not  really  priests  in  the  strict 

e  augurs.  gense  of  the  word,  as  they  had  not  to  conduct 
any  public  worship.  Their  only  duty  was  to  assist  the 
magistrates  in  taking  the  auspices,  /.  e.,  to  act  as  their 


CH.  X.  Magistrates  of  the  Republic.  135 

servants,  when  they  wished  to  consult  the  will  of  the 
gods.  They  could  not  'act  of  their  own  accord,  but  had 
to  wait  till  they  were  bidden.  They  were  therefore  far 
from  being  able  to  exercise  an  independent  authority 
or  to  counteract  and  thwart  the  public  will.  The  signs 
sent  by  the  gods  were  sent  not  to  them,  but  to  the  magis- 
trates, All  that  the  augurs  had  to  do  was  to  watch 
for  them  in  the  form  prescribed  by  the  sacred  law,  to 
interpret  and  to  announce  them  to  the  magistrates ;  and 
the  spirit  of  formalism  pervading  the  religion  of  Rome 
was  such,  that  if  an  augur  by  mistake  or  purposely 
announced  signs  which  he  had  not  seen,  the  magistrate 
was  justified  in  acting  upon  the  announcement  as  if  it 
had  been  correct,  and  the  gods  were  supposed  to  be 
bound  by  the  false  announcement,  though  they  might 
punish  the  augur  for  making  it. 

The  system  of  public  auspices  sprung  up,  like  every 
religious  custom,  in  a  period  of  unbounded  faith,  at  a 
time  when  no  man  would  have  ventured  upon  any  enter- 
prise, unless  he  had  honestly  ascertained  by  undoubted 
signs  the  will  of  the  approving  deity.  But  this  faith  did 
not  survive  long  the  primeval  period  of  sacerdotal  kings. 
After  the  establishment  of  the  republic  the  auspices 
began  to  be  used  as  a  political  instrument  to  serve  purely 
political  ends.  The  science  of  the  augurs  was  pressed 
into  the  service  of  the  state,  and  they  were  made  to 
announce  favourable  or  unfavourable  auspices  as  the 
public  interest  or  even  the  interest  of  a  party  might  re- 
quire. The  election  of  poHtical  adversaries  might  thus 
be  frustrated  on  the  pretext  that  the  auspices  were 
against  it ;  a  law  might  be  rejected  on  the  same  plea,  an 
expedition  postponed  or  given  up,  a  consul  called  back 
from  a  campaign,  in  short  any  measure  annulled  or 
thwarted  by  this  means  without  making  it  appear  that 


126  Early  Rome.  CH.  xi. 

political  considerations  dictated  the  opposition.  Of 
course  such  procedures  would  in  the  end  dull  the  edge 
of  the  weapon  employed.  People  will  not  submit  to  be 
influenced  by  religious  scruples  w^hen  they  discover  that 
their  scruples  are  not  shared  by  priests  or  rulers,  who 
make  good  use  of  them  for  worldly  purposes.  This  was 
shown  at  Rome  in  the  conquest  between  the  patricians 
and  the  plebeians.  The  clenching  argument  of  the 
former  was  always  this,  that  the  plebeians  had  gradually 
acquired  power  and  influence  enough  to  extort  equal 
political  rights  from  their  opponents,  this  argument  was 
found  to  be  based  on  false  assumptions,  for  no  difficulty 
was  experienced  by  plebeian  consuls,  when  they  had  to 
approach  the  gods  under  the  old  patrician  auspices. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE  SENATE  OF  THE  REPUBLIC. 

"The  Senate  and  the  people  of  Rome"  (5.  P.  Q.  R.,  i. 
e.  senatus  populusque  Romamcs)  was  the  official  designa- 
tion of  the  Roman  commonwealth.  The  precedence 
occupied  in  this  title  by  the  senate  is  indicative  of  the 
prominence  of  that  assembly  in  the  public  life  of  Rome. 
The  senate  was  indeed  the  soul  of  that  mighty  body. 
The  greatness  of  Rome  is  to  be  ascribed  not  so  much  to 
the  eminent  genius  of  a  few  men,  nor  to  the  civic  virtues 
and  martial  spirit  of  the  people,  as  to  the  ability  dis- 
played at  all  times  by  this  assembly,  which  united 
within  itself  whatever  of  worth  or  talent,  of  experience 
and  political  wisdom  the  whole  nation  possessed. 

The  senate  had  neither  executive,  nor  legislative,  nor 
judicial  power.     It  was  merely  a  consultative  body  free 


Cri  XI.  The  Senate.  127 

to  give  advice  to  the  magistrates,  when  asked 
for  it,  but  unable  either  to  give  advice  un-      a  consulu-  ^ 
asked  or  to  enforce  its  acceptance.     Its  in-      "^^  ^°^^- 
fluence  consisted  in  this,  that  it  really  represented  the 
intelligence  of  the  people,  and  generally  gave  a  correct 
expression  of  the  national  will. 

The  normal  number  of  se'nators  is  supposed  to  have 
been  three  hundred  in  the  kingly  period   (see  p.  109). 
They  were  of  course  all  patricians.    Thedast 
king  is  said  to  have  reduced  the  senate  in        Number  oi 

°  _  senators. 

numbers  and  to  have  disregarded  its  advice. 
On   the   establishment   of    the   repubhc   the   senate  re- 
gained  its  old  position.     Brutus,  or,  according  to  other 
statements,  Valerius  added  many  new  sena- 
tors and  thus  restored  the  former  standard.      New  sena- 
tors added 
Our   informants  are  of  opmion  that  these      after  the 

new  senators  were  taken  from  the  plebe-  i-L^quin"  ° 
ians;  and  whilst  some  think  that  they  were  pfefera^ns 
by  their  nomination  raised  to  the  rank  of 
patricians,  others  fancy  that  they  remained  plebeians — 
that  the  senate,  therefore,  from  the  commencement  of 
the  republic  contained  a  considerable  number  of  plebeian 
members.  This  is,  however,  a  notion  which  cannot  be 
entertained.  It  is  refuted  by  all  that  we  know  of  the 
early  constitutional  struggles  between  patricians  and  ple- 
beians. The  plebeians  were  for  a  long  time  after  in  a 
depressed  condition,  excluded  from  all  participation  in 
the  government  of  the  republic.  It  took  them  a  cen- 
tury and  a  half  before  they  were  admitted  to  the  con- 
sulship, and  two  hundred  years  elapsed  before  they  were 
declared  eligible  for  any  priestly  offices.  Up  to  445  b.  c. 
they  were  excluded  from  intermarriage  with  the  patri- 
cians. When  after  a  severe  struggle  and  an  armed  in- 
surrection tribunes  of  the  plebs  were  created,  to  act  3» 


\28  Early  Rome.  CH.  xi. 

patrons  of  the  plebeians  and  to  ward  off  the  worst  form 
of  oppression,  these  tribunes  were  not  allowed  access  to 
the  senate,  but  had  for  a  long  time  to  take  their  seats 
outside  the  sacred  precincts  and  to  shout  their  interce- 
ding "  veto"  through  the  open  door.  How  is  it  credible 
that  such  an  assembly  should  have  received  a  number 
of  plebeian  members  in  the  very  first  year  of  the  re- 
public ?  To  believe  such  an  extraordinary  statement, 
we  should  require  better  evidence  than  we  have. 

But  even  supposing  that  Brutus  or  Valerius  com- 
pleted the  number  of  senators  from  the  plebs,  these 
new  plebeian  members  must  have  died  in  course  of  time, 
and  therefore,  if  no  law  was  enacted  to  provide  for 
plebeian  successors,  the  senate  would  in  a  short  time 
have  become  purely  patrician  again.  Of  such  a  law  we 
have  no  trace,  nor  is  it  reported  that  the  alleged  act  of 
Brutus  or  Valerius  was  ever  repeated.  We  hear  of  no 
election  of  plebeian  senators,  nor  of  the  presence  of 
plebeians  in  the  senate  during  the  early  period  of  the 
republic.  The  senate  is  constantly  represented  as  the 
champion  of  the  patrician  order,  without  a  dissentient 
voice.  It  is  therefore  an  absolute  impossibility  that 
plebeians  should  have  been  received  into  it  at  the  time 
in  question. 

The  arguments  adduced  against  the  possible  recep- 
tion of  plebeians  into  the  senate  by  Brutus  or  Valerius  do 
not  tell  with  equal  force  against  the  assumption  that 
plebeians  were  indeed  received,  but  were  at  the  same 
time  raised  to  patrician  rank.  Yet  even  this  seems  im- 
^^  ,        probable,  for  such  a  precedent  as  the  whole- 

Nor  were  the       ^  _  ^ 

new  members     Sale  Creation  of  a  number  of  new  patrician 

fai'seTto  the      families  from  the  body  of  plebeians  could 

d^.°*^  P^'"'     not  have  failed  to  be  followed  in  after  times, 

and  would  have  led  to  drafting  off  the  fore- 


CH.  XI.  The  Sejiate.  129 

most  leaders  of  the  plebeians  into  the  patrician  ranks. 
It  would  have  been  such  a  weakening  of  the  plebeian 
opposition  that  the  struggle  would  have  lost  its  asperity, 
and  tradition  would  not  have  failed  to  commemorate 
some  instances  of  transition  from  the  lower  to  the  higher 
order  of  citizens.  But  not  a  single  instance  is  alleged. 
Nay,  it  appears  to  have  been  impossible  in  law.  We 
are  therefore  compelled  to  assume  that  the  new  senators 
created  by  Brutus  or  Valerius  were  members  of  patrician 
houses. 

This  assumption  agrees  with  all  that  we  know  of  the 
subsequent  history.     It   is    certain   that   the   revolution 
which  overthrew  the  kings  led  to  a  restora- 
tion of  aristocratic,  i.  e.  patrician  govern-   purefy  pSri- 
ment.     It  was  a  revolution  not  in  favour  of    '^'^'^  ^'?^     . 

champion  of 

the  people,  i.  e.  the  mass  of  the  lower  ranks,  patrician 
but,  as  we  have  already  remarked,  it  was 
rather  directed  against  their  interests.  The  plebeians 
were  so  far  from  being  benefited  by  it,  that  they  had  to 
rise  in  open  rebellion,  to  obtain,  not  equality  with  the 
patricians,  not  a  share  in  the  government,  but  simple 
protection  from  arbitrary  and  illegal  treatment.  The 
senate  during  this  time  and  for  a  long  time  after  was 
most  assuredly  patrician  throughout,  and  had  never 
been  tainted  by  the  presence  even  of  ennobled  plebeians. 
The  new  senators  added  by  Brutus  or  Valerius  are 
said  to  have  been  called  conscripti,  in  distinction  from 
the  older  members,  who  were  simply  called         _. 

^  ^  The  title 

Patres.   Thus,  it  is  said,  arose  the  title /cz/r^j'         patres 
conscripti,  conscript  fathers,  which  was  the 
official  designation   of  the  Roman  senators,  for  patres 
conscripti^  we    are  told,   is   contracted   from   patres  et 
conscripti.     This  explanation  of  the  name  falls  to  the 
ground  with  the  assumption  that  the  new  members  dif- 


130  Early  Ro7ne.  CH.  xi. 

fered  in  rank  from  the  older.  It  is  an  attempt  of  some 
antiquarian  to  account  for  the  pecuhar  title  of  the  senate, 
and  cannot  be  based  upon  a  genuine  tradition.  We 
must  explain  the  title  differently.  We  know  (what  not 
all  the  annalists  knew)  that  the  word  patres  meant 
originally  not  senators,  but  members  of  the  patrician 
community  as  distinct  from  the  plebeians.  Hence  not 
all  the  patres,  in  strictness  of  speech  the  lords  or  mas- 
ters of  families,  were  senators,  and  to  distinguish  the 
latter  from  the  body  of  patres,  they  were  called  patres 
conscripti,  i.e.  fathers  whose  names  were  "entered" 
[conscripta)  on  the  hsts  of  the  senators. 

The  Roman  senate  was  a  consultative  body  of  men 

picked  from  the  mass  of  the  community  and  accustomed 

to   meet  periodically  for  the  discussion  of 

Difference         public   affairs.      It   resembled  therefore  in 

of  the  senate         ^  .... 

from  modern  many  rcspccts  the  representative  assemblies 
par  laments.  ^^  modem  timcs,  and  upon  the  whole  exer- 
cised a  similar  influence  upon  the  direction  of  affairs. 
But  in  detail  the  difference  is  perhaps  more  striking  than 
the  resemblance ;  and  as  we  are  too  apt  to  form  our 
ideas  of  the  past  from  the  analogies  of  the  present,  it  is 
worth  while  to  notice  some  of  the  most  striking  features 
in  which  the  Roman  senate  differed  from  modern  parlia- 
ments. 

The  senate  was  not  a  representative  assembly  in  the 

strict    sense   of    the    word.      The    members   were    not 

elected  by  the  suffrage  of  the  people ;  nor 

The  senate       ^^^  ^j^gy  ^\[  ^nd  vote  for  particular  divisions 

not  a  repre-  ■'  '^ 

sentative  of  the  nation  or  territory.     They  were  nomi- 

assem  y.  nated  by  the  executive  government,  i.  e.  by 

the  consuls,  and  after  the  establishment  of  the  censor- 
ship (in  443  B.  c.)  by  the  censors.  Only  in  a  limited  degree 
and  in  an  indirect  way  had  the  people  any  influence  in 


CH.  XI.  The  Senate.  131 

the   nomination   of  senators,  inasmuch   as  ^,  ^      , 

Mode    01 

they  elected  the  electors,  and  as  the  latter  electing 

were  bound  to  call  into  the  senate  men  who 
enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  people,  in  the  first  in- 
stance, therefore,  men  who  had  discharged  public 
offices.  In  the  earlier  period  of  the  republic,  when  the 
two  consuls  were  the  only  annual  magistrates,  the  va- 
cancies in  the  senate  caused  by  death  could  not  all  be 
filled  up  by  ex-magistrates;  and  even  when  the  number 
of  annual  magistrates  was  considerably  increased,  the 
senate  could  only  be  kept  at  its  normal  standard  by  the 
nomination  of  men  who  had  not  previously  discharged 
a  public  office.  Yet  those  senators  who  had  passed  the 
official  chairs  were  always  the  leaders  in  the  senate,  and 
it  appears  that  the  other  senators  had  only  the  right  to 
vote  and  not  that  of  justifying  their  vote  by  set  speeches. 
As  the  senators  held  their  seats  for  life,  or  at  least 
during  good  behaviour,  and  as  the  senate  accordingly 
was  never  renewed  in  toto  by  a  dissolution,       ^,  , 

•'  Character  of 

it  constituted  a  permanent,  undying  body,  stability  of 
only  receiving  fresh  blood  from  time  to  time, 
as  old  men  dropped  off  and  others  were  substituted  in 
their  place.  They  may,  in  short,  be  said  to  have  held 
life  peerages.  This  circumstance  naturally  gave  to  the 
senate  the  character  of  great  stability  and  decided  con- 
servatism. New  ideas  could  make  their  way  but  slowly 
in  such  an  assembly,  and  the  people  had  no  means  of 
pushing  measures  of  reform  through  a  body  which  could 
not,  like  a  modern  parliament,  be  reconstructed  on  new 
principles  at  a  general  election. 

At  the  same  time,  the  traditions  of  bygone  times, 
the  constitutional  precedents,  which  in  the  absence  of  a 
written  constitution  contained  the  public  law  of  the  re- 
public, could  not  be  better  preserved  in  their  purity  than 


132  Early  Rome.  CH.  xii. 

by  such  an  assembly.  If  we  take  into  consideration 
that  not  only  the  consuls  after  their  year  of  office,  but 
also  pontiffs  and  other  priests  were  Ufe  members  of 
the  senate,  we  can  understand  how  the  knowledge  of 
many  old  institutions,  and  even  a  dim  recollection  of  the 
events  that  led  to  their  establishment,  might  be  recorded 
and  handed  down  for  generations  before  it  was  con- 
signed to  writing. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  POPULAR   ASSEMBLIES   OF   THE   REPUBLIC. 

The  senate,  as  we  have  seen,  had  no  direct  influence  on 
the  election  of  magistrates  or  on  legislative  enactments. 
These  powers  were  lodged  in  the  assembly 
functmnf  of  of  the  people,  and  constituted  the  attributes 
*^^  P^PV'^*"  of  sovereignty,  which  in  the  ancient  repub- 
lics the  people  never  delegated  to  any  per- 
son or  select  body,  but  invariably  reserved  to  themselves 
as  an  inalienable  right. 

The  oldest  form  of  a  popular  assembly  in  Rome  was, 
as  we  have  seen  (pp.  36,  112),  that  of  the  curies  {comitia 
curiata).  It  consisted  of  patricians  alone,  to  the  exclu- 
sion of  plebeians.  This  assembly  was  never  formally 
abolished,  but  in  republican  times  it  had  lost  all  real 
^^         .  political  power,  and  was  retained  only  for 

Thecomi-  ^  ,       ^^       -         ^  ,.  .  ^  ,. 

tia  curiata  the  Sake  of  a  few  formalities  more  of  a  reli- 
superse  e  .  gjo^s  than  a  political  character,  of  which  the 
most  remarkable  was  the  annual  passing  of  the  law  de 
imperio, -wYiizh.  conferred  the  military  command  on  every 
newly  elected  consul,  and  thus  resembled  in  some  way 
the  annual  enactment  of  the  mutiny  bill  in  England. 


The  comitii 
centuriata. 


CH.  XII.  Asse7nblies  of  the  People.  133 

When  Roman  history  emerges  from  the  legendary 
period  we  find  another  form  of  popuhir  assembly  in 
operation,  the  "  assembly  of  centuries " 
[comitia  centuriata),  organized  on  an  en- 
tirely different  plan.  The  plebeians  were 
no  longer  excluded,  nor  was  family  relationship  and  de- 
scent the  principle  of  classification.  The  whole  people, 
patricians  and  plebeians,  were  divided  into  five  classes 
according  to  a  property  quahfication,  and  each  of  these 
five  classes  was  subdivided  into  a  certain  number  of 
voting  units,  called  centuries,  the  first  class  having 
eighty,  each  of  the  three  succeeding  classes  twenty 
centuries,  and  the  last  class  thirty,  thus  making  up  a 
total  of  170  centuries  or  votes.  In  addition  to  these 
there  were  eighteen  centuries  of  knights  and  four  centu- 
ries of  musicians,  smiths,  and  carpenters,  which  were 
formed  without  regard  to  the  amount  of  their  property. 
The  qualification  of  the  members  of  the  first  class  was, 
according  to  the  statement  of  Livy,  the  possession  of 
property  valued  above  100,000  asses,  or  pounds  of  cop- 
per. In  each  successive  class  this  figure  was  less  by 
25,000  asses,  so  that  the  fifth  class  embraced  the  citizens 
owning  less  than  25,000  asses  (page  52).  There  are,  in- 
deed, many  controverted  points  of  detail,  arising  from 
the  fact  that  our  informants  differ  from  one  another  ;  but 
as  they  agree  in  the  general  character  of  the  arrange- 
ment, we  need  not  here  be  detained  by  these  variations. 

It  must  strike   everyone   at  first  sight  that  this  is  a 
division    of    the   people   on    military    principles.      The 
people,  in  fact,  was  here  looked  upon  as  an 
army  and  divided  into  fighting  bodies.   The       character  of 
170  centuries  of  the  five  classes  were    all       the  comitia 

'  centuriata. 

infantry ;   the   cavalry  was  formed  by  the 

eighteen  centuries  of  knights ;   the  musicians  and  en- 


134  Early  Rome.  CH  xii. 

gineers  were  equally  essential  branches  of  the  service. 
Then  each  class  consisted  of  an  equal  number  of  young 
fighting  men,  and  of  veterans,  the  former  destined  to 
take  the  field,  the  latter  reserved  for  the  defence  of  the 
city.  The  men  of  the  higher  classes  were  bound  to  pro- 
vide themselves  with  more  or  less  complete  armour;  the 
lower  classes  were  hght-armed ;  and  the  horses  for  the 
cavalry  were  furnished  by  the  state.  Lastly,  the  place 
of  meeting  for  this  assembly  was  the  field  of  Mars,  and 
the  signal  for  calling  it  together  was  not  the  voice  of  the 
public  crier  but  the  military  trumpet. 

From  all  this  it  is  evident  that  the  original  purpose  of 

the  centuriate  assembly  was  to  provide  protection  for  the 

state  by  organizing  the  whole  body  of  citi- 

Functions  of      2ens  as  an  army.     It  followed  as  a  natural 

the  comitia.  .      ,       , 

consequence  that  this  body  was  entrusted 
with  the  decisions  of  peace  and  war  and  with  the  elec- 
tion of  commanders,  the  two  most  important  matters  for 
every  state  and  almost  the  only  questions  which  would 
be  of  frequent  occurrence  in  a  rude  community  situated 
like  that  of  Rome.  Criminal  offenders  were  looked  upon 
as  enemies  of  the  country  and  were,  very  properly,  tried 
by  the  same  body  which  fought  against  foreign  enemies. 
The  final  decision  in  legislative  questions  thus  fell  with- 
in the  competency  of  the  same  military  assembly  of  cen- 
turies, which  thus  became  the  sovereign  assembly  of  the 
Roman  people. 

But  how  did  it  first  arise  ?  Our  informants  are  ready 
with  a  very  simple  answer.  They  affirm  that  one  of  the 
kings  called  Servius  Tullius,  worked  out  the  plan  in  his 

own  brain,  finished  it  in  all  its  detail,  and 

Alleged   ori-  ,  .  ,  .        ,  , 

gin    of  the      was  about  to  mtroduce  it  when  he  was  mur- 

comkia  cu-        ^^^.^^  -^^  Tarquin,  the  tyrant ;  that  during 

the  reign  of  Tarquin  the  scheme  of  Servius 


CH.  XII.  Assemblies  of  the  People.  135 

remained  unexecuted,  and  that  on  his  expulsion  the  Re- 
mans drew  it  forth  from  the  pubHc  archives  and  made  it 
the  foundation  of  their  new  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

We  need  hardly  say  that  this  cannot  have  been  the 
way  in  which  the  centuriate  comitia  came  into  being, 
and  supplanted  the  curies.  This  change  can  have  come 
to  pass  only  in  consequence  of  a  resolution  which 
changed  the  old  sacerdotal  kingdom  into  a  military 
monarchy,  breaking  up  the  primeval  federal  constitution 
with  its  three  tribes  of  Ramnes,  Tities,  and  Luceres,  its 
thirty  curies,  its  patrician  houses  and  their  clients,  and 
raising  the  plebeians  from  their  degraded  position  to  the 
rank  of  Roman  citizens.  By  this  revolution  Rome  be- 
came a  mihtary  power,  and  even  when  the  kings  were 
expelled,  the  military  organization  of  the  people  created 
by  them  was  retained  and  no  doubt  contributed  to  give 
Rome  a  superiority  over  her  neighbours.  The  memory  of 
the  process  which  led  to  this  great  advance  has  been 
lost.  Whether  it  was  entirely  worked  out  by  an  internal 
organic  reform,  or  whether  Etruscan  rulers  introduced  it, 
cannot  now  be  proved  by  any  external  evidence.  Some 
few  traces  in  the  traditions  point  to  the  latter  alternative  ; 
for  instance,  the  account  of  the  opposition  which  the 
elder  Tarquin  met  when  he  wished  to  reform  the  old 
centuries  of  knights  (page  48).  The  native  Sabine 
augur  Attus  Navius,  we  are  told,  resisted  the  foreign 
king,  but  was  obliged  to  yield  when  Tarquin,  though 
reforming  the  old  institutions,  left  the  old  names  unal- 
tered. Servius  Tullius,  the  traditional  author  of  the 
centuriate  comitia,  is  represented  in  some  annals  as  an 
Etruscan  warrior  named  Mastarna,  coming  to  Rome  and 
settling  there  with  his  followers.  These  are  indications 
of  a  reform  caused  by  foreign  influence.     Yet  there  are 


136  Early  Rome.  CH.  xii. 

not  wanting  traces  which  seem  to  show  that  the  centuri- 
ate  organization  was  an  organic  development  of  that  of 
the  curies  -a  theory  which,  however,  does  not  exclude 
the  possibility  of  foreign  influence  to  facilitate  and  direct 
the  process. 

The  popular  assembly  could  only  meet  when  duly 
convoked  by  a  consul  on  a  day  set  apart  by  the  pontifi- 
cal calendar  for  such  meetings.  Under  the  presidency 
Forms  ob  ^^  ^  consul  the  people  were  called  upon  to 

served  at  the      approve  or  negative  the  motion  which  the 

meetings  of  1  •  i        1  1         r      i 

thecomitia  consul,  With  the  approval  of  the  senate, 
centunata.  j^j^  before  them.  There  was  no  discussion 
of  any  kind.  The  people  were  simply  asked  to  say  yes 
or  no.  Their  power  went  no  further,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  most  cases  the  vote  of  the  people  was  a 
mere  matter  of  form.  When  a  question  had  been  duly 
discussed  in  the  senate  and  was,  upon  a  decree  of  the 
senate,  brought  before  the  people  by  the  executive 
magistrate,  it  would  have  been  strange  indeed  and  an 
ominous  sign  of  internal  dissensions,  if  the  people  had 
voted  contrary  to  what  was  expected  of  them.  In  ordi- 
nary times  the  consul  acted  under  the  autliority  of  the 
senate  and  the  people  under  the  authority  of  the  consul, 
and  thus  the  three  apparently  independent  agents 
worked  in  harmony  together  because  in  reality  one  of 
them  led  and  the  others  followed. 

We  have  now  drawn  such  a  sketch  of  the  first  republi- 
can constitution  as  our  scanty  sources  justify. 
o/^afr!cian       Mcagrc  as  it  is,  it  enables  us  to  form  an  opi- 
power  in  the       nion  of  its  general  character.    It  was  a  deci- 

State.  1       11  •  ■        r  r  rr-i 

dedly  aristocratic  form  of  government.  The 
patricians  were  in  possession  of  the  executive  power  and 
of  the  priestly  offices;  they  ?»lone  formed  the  senate, 
and  they  had  such  influence  in  the  popular  assembly 


:h.  XII.  Asse^nblies  of  the  People.  137 

of  centuries  that  they  were  able  to  carry  elections  and 
resolutions  in  it  in  the  patrician  interest.  But  we  cannot 
estimate  the  influence  of  these  institutions  on  the  nation 
at  large,  unless  we  can  ascertain  the  proportion  which 
the  patricians  bore  to  the  whole  Roman  people  as  to 
wealth  and  numbers.  If  the  governing  body  formed 
but  a  small  nobility  and  nevertheless  engrossed  all 
political  power,  the  constitution  of  the  republic  was  in 
the  highest  degree  unsafe  and  the  position  of  the  patri- 
cians quite  untenable,  for  the  physical  strength  repre- 
sented by  numbers  is  indispensable  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  rule  of  one  class  over  another.  Unfortu- 
nately we  have  no  data  whatever  to  fix  accurately  the  re- 
spective numbers  of  patricians  and  plebeians.  In  the  be- 
ginning of  the  regal  period,  when  the  foundation  of  the 
state  was  laid,  the  patricians  undoubtedly  formed  a  peo- 
ple, or  rather  the  people  (the  populus  Romanus).  They 
were  the  conquerors,  who  had  won  their  position  by  force 
of  arms.  The  conquered  population,  even  if  it  had  been 
more  numerous,  was  not  a  match  for  them,  and  had  to 
be  content  with  toleration  and  protection.  But  it  seems 
natural  that  a  class  which,  like  the  patricians,  received 
no  addition  from  without,  and  which  had  to  bear  the 
brunt  of  all  the  numerous  wars,  must  gradually  have 
diminished  in  numbers,  whereas  the  inferior  citizens 
would  be  constantly  recruited  by  the  admission  of  con- 
quered enemies  and  liberated  slaves.  Thus  it  would  be- 
come imperatively  necessary  to  strengthen  the  patrician 
combatants  by  plebeians,  and  this  process  found  its  legal 
expression  in  the  establishment  of  the  centuriate  comitia. 
To  be  able  to  judge  of  the  true  character  of  the  comitia 
centuriata  we  ought  to  know  what  proportion  the  ple- 
beians bore  in  the  centuries  to  the  patricians.  Did  they 
form  a  considerable    portion,    or    half,   or    more    than 


138  Early  Rome.  CH.  xii. 

half,  or  the  whole  of  the  170  centuries  of  the  infantry? 
Did  the  patricians  form  the  18  centuries  of  knights  or 
some  of  the  centuries  of  the  infantry,  and  how  many  ? 
By  putting  these  questions  we  have  indicated  already 
that  the  Roman  historians  leave  us  in  doubt,  and  that 
we  are  driven  to  form  our  opinions  independently  of 

their  evidence. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  enumerate  the  various  con- 
jectures of  writers,  still  less  to  discuss  them.  Perhaps 
we  ought  simply  to  confess  our  ignorance  and  our  in- 
ability to  supply  the  gap  Isft  by  the  silence  of  our  infor- 
mants. Still,  without  pretending  to  infallibility,  we  may 
venture  to  express  an  opinion,  vague  enough, 
Probable  yg^-  better   than    mere  vacuity.     We   think 

origin  of  the         •'  _  ^ 

comitia  cen-  that  when  the  centuriate  assembly  of  the 
people  was  first  established  a  body  of  ple- 
beian companies  was  formed  equal  to  that  of  the  old 
patrician  companies  of  fighting  men.  We  think  that  the 
traces  of  this  division  of  the  whole  people  into  two 
equal  parts  are  discernible  in  the  fact  that  the  first  class 
alone  in  the  centuritate  comitia  contained  80  centuries, 
and  the  four  succeeding  classes  only  90  centuries.  The 
first  class  therefore  was  almost  equal  to  all  the  others 
put  together.  If  we  take  into  consideration  that  the  first 
class  had  originally  the  name  of  classis  (/.  <?.  army)  to 
itself,  and  that  the  four  other  classes  were  designated  as 
"below  the  class"  {infra  classeni),  we  can  hardly  fail  to 
see  that  there  must  have  been  a  difference  of  kind  and 
not  only  of  degree  between  the  80  centuries  of  the  first 
class  and  the  90  centuries  of  the  other  classes.  Now  it 
is  extremely  probable  that  this  difference  was  no  other 
than  the  difference  between  patricians  and  plebeians, 
and  that  the  reform  wh'ch  established  the  centuriate 
comitia  consisted  in  this,  that  an  equal  number  of  pie- 


CH.  xii.  Assemblies  of  the  People.  139 

beian  companies  (or  centuries)  was  added  to  the  existing 
number  of  patrician  companies  to  form  the  army  and 
the  national  assembly.  This  is  the  reform  which,  as  we 
have  several  times  hinted  before,  was  effected  in  Rome 
by  those  military  kings  who  succeeded  the  sacerdotal 
kings  of  the  primeval  period. 

When  the  light  of  history  begins  to  dawn  upon  the 
republic  we  find  a  state  of  things  somewhat  differing 
from  this  equal  balance  of  patricians  and  plebeians  in 
the  army.  It  seems  that  the  number  of  patricians  must 
have  greatly  diminished,  while  that  of  the  plebeians  in- 
creased. The  Roman  armies  are  generally  represented 
as  essentially  consisting  of  plebeians.  Not  so  the  politi- 
cal assembly  of  centuries.  In  this  assembly 
the  patricians  for  a  long  time  had  a  decided      J^e  assem- 

/  °  bly  of  centu- 

majority ;    at  least    they   were   sufficiently      ries  ceases  to 

,  ,         .  ...  be  military 

Strong  m  it  to  carry  the  elections  m  their  and  becomes 
own  favour.  This  shows  that  the  comitia  poikical. 
centuriata,  though  originally  the  ground- 
work of  the  military  organization,  had  come  to  be  merely 
a  political  organization,  and  that  the  army  was  now 
formed  on  a  different  principle.  That  such  was  the  case 
later  in  the  history  of  Rome  is  well  known  ;  but  what  we 
do  not  know  is  the  exact  time  when  the  separation  took 
place  between  the  political  assembly  and  the  army.  In 
our  opinion,  this  separation  had  taken  place  in  that 
period  of  the  republic  which  preceded  the  secession  of 
the  plebs  ;  perhaps  it  was  coeval  with  the  establishment 
of  the  republic.  For  as  it  threw  the  great  burden  of 
military  service  chiefly  upon  the  plebeians,  whilst  it  re- 
served for  the  patricians  the  superiority  in  the  voting 
assembly,  it  is  in  keeping  with  that  aristocratic  spirit 
which,  as  we  have  seen,  characterized  the  republican 
revolution. 


I40  Early  Rome.  CH.  xiii. 

The  plebeians  therefore  found  themselves  in  this 
position — that,  whereas  they  were  called  upon  to  bear 
the  burdens  of  citizenship  and  especially  the  greatest  of 
them — viz.,  military  service — that  they  had  httle  influ- 
ence in  the  decisions  of  the  sovereign  assembly  of  citi- 
zens. Such  a  state  of  things  could  not  last.  It  was 
overthrown  by  a  great  convulsion — the  secession  of  the 
plebs,  which  might  have  led  to  the  dissolution  of  the 
Roman  commonwealth,  but  which,  owing  to  the  wise 
concessions  of  the  senate  and  the  pa.tricians,  laid  the 
foundation  of  plebeian  liberties. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  TRIBUNES  OF  THE  PEOPLE. 

According  to  the  account  preserved  by  Livy  and  Di- 
onysius,  the  patricians  no  sooner  heard  of  the  death  of 
the  exiled  Tarquin  than  they  began  to  oppress  the  ple- 
beians, whom  they  had  treated  up  to  that  time  with 
great  friendliness  and  leniency,  in  order  to  wean  them 
from  their  attachment  to  the  monarchy.  Making  use  of 
the  necessities  of  the  impoverished  commons,  they  lent 
them  money  on  hard  terms  and  relentlessly  treated  their 
insolvent  debtors  as  slaves,  loading  them  with  fetters  and 
driving  their  families  from  house  and  home.  The  ple- 
beians could  not  bear  the  outrages  of  their 
Recession  of  opprcssors  any  longer.  They  rose  in  a  body, 
left  Rome,  and  encamped  like  a  hostile 
army  on  a  hill  beyond  the  river  Anio,  at  a  distance  of  a 
few  miles  from  the  gates,  with  the  intention  of  dissolving 
their  connection  with  their  native  city  and  of  forming  a 
separate  community  of  their  own.  The  patricians,  unable 
to  reduce  them  by  force,  and  seeing  that  without  the 


CH.  XIII.  Tribunes  of  tJie  People.  141 

plebeians  they  were  utterly  helpless  and  exposed  to 
foreign  enemies,  sent  a  message  to  the  insurgents  and 
entreated  them  to  return.  Both  parties  were  inclined  to 
a  reconciliation.  The  plebeians  asked  for  nothing  but 
protection  from  the  unjust  treatment  of  patrician  magis- 
trates. It  was  stipulated  that  they  should  have  the  right 
to  elect  magistrates  of  their  own,  called  tribunes  of  the 
plebs  {tribiini  phbis),  empowered  to  act  as  their  special 
patrons  and  protectors.  They  were  to  be  invested  with 
the  right  of  "intercession,"  by  which  they  could  stop 
any  legal  or  administrative  proceeding  directed  against 
plebeians.  This  right  of  intercession,  of  which  the 
patricians  had  already  the  benefit,  inasmuch  as  either 
consul  could  use  it  against  his  colleague,  was  now  ex- 
tended to  the  plebeian  tribunes,  and  afforded  the  same 
protection  from  arbitrary  measures  to  a  class  of  citizens 
which  had  hitherto  been  exposed  without  a  remedy  to 
illegal  treatment.  In  order  to  give  effect  to  the  power  of 
the  tribunes,  they  were  declared  sacrosancti,  i.  e.  inviola- 
ble. The  curse  of  outlawry  was  pronounced  against 
any  man  who  should  venture  to  resist  or  harm  them. 
Upon  these  terms  peace  was  concluded  between  the  two 
orders  of  citizens,  and  the  shedding  of  blood  avoided  ; 
the  covenant  thus  made  was  called  a  "  sacred  law  {lex 
sacrata),  and  the  hill  on  which  the  plebeians  had  en- 
camped retained  for  all  future  ages  the  name  of  Mons 
sacer,  the  "  sacred  hill." 

As  no  stipulations  were  made  in  the  covenant  about 
ar^v  remission  of  debts,  nor  the  laws  of  debt  altered,  we 
may  be  sure  that  the  cause  which  led  to  the 
secession  was  not  a  general  indebtedness  of  of  the^s"ces- 
the  plebeians,  as  represented  in  the  annals.  ^'°"- 
It  is  indeed  highly  improbable  that  in  the  primitive  state 
of  society  in  which  we  must  imagine  the  Romans  then 

L 


142  Early  Rome.  ch.  xiii. 

to  have  been,  numerous  loan  transactions  could  have 
taken  place.  Moreover,  as  Sir  G.  C.  Lewis  remarks,  "  it  is 
difficult  for  us  to  conceive  a  state  of  society  in  which  the 
poor  are  borrowers  on  a  large  scale."  To  strengthen 
this  impression  of  doubt  we  find  that  for  a  hundred 
years  following  the  secession,  i.  e.  up  to  the  disasters  of 
the  Gallic  conflagration,  no  further  mention  is  made  of 
any  distress  of  the  plebeians  caused  by  debts  ;  although, 
as  already  remarked,  no  remediary  measures  had  been 
adopted.  We  may  therefore  feel  sure  that  the  cause  of 
the  secession  was  not  the  economic  distress  of  the  com- 
mons, but  their  exclusion  from  political  rights,  which  left 
them  without  those  safeguards  from  injustice  which  the 
patricians  possessed. 

It  is  universally  admitted  that  the  original  power  of 
the  tribunes  was  \\\^jus  auxilii,  or  "right  of  aid."  They 
could  claim  and  did  claim  no  more.  They 
powe?of  the  were  far  from  usurping  a  share  in  the  gov- 
tribunes.  ernment  of  the    republic.      Their   business 

was  to  protect  plebeians  from  unjust  treatment  at  the 
hands  of  patricians  and  from  unjust  treatment  atthe  hands 
of  patrician  magistrates.  From  this  humble  origin  they 
advanced  by  degrees  to  the  power  of  controlling  the 
whole  civil  government,  and  finally  they  became  the  in- 
struments by  means  of  which  the  republican  constitution 
was  changed  into  the  empire. 

At  the  same  time  with  the  tribuneship  another  plebeian 
Plebeian  office  was  established,  that  of  aediles,  who  were 
aediles.  ^q  ^ct  chiefly  as  the  attendants  and  servants  of 
the  tribunes,  and,  like  them,  invested  with  inviolability. 

The  reason  of  investing  the  plebeian  magistrates  with 

the  character  of  inviolability  and  of  calling 

The  sacred        ^^^  j^^^  ^^^^  conferred  this  right  "sacred 

laws,"  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  from 


CH  xrii.  Tribunes  of  the  People.  143 

the  patrician  point  of  view  the  plebeians  were  looked 
upon  as  a  distinct  people,  not  fully  and  in  every  respect 
part  of  ihe  popu/us  Romanus.  For  this  reason  the  agree- 
ment between  the  two  parties  was  concluded  in  the  form 
of  an  international  treaty,  with  due  observance  of  all 
those  ceremonies — chiefly  sacrifices  and  oaths — which 
were  considered  necessary  when  independent  nations 
came  to  terms  of  amity.  Oaths  are  an  appeal  not  to  a 
civil  magistrate,  but  to  a  divine  power, — the  only  power 
that  can  arbitrate  between  independent  states.  They  are 
always  employed  to  bind  in  their  consciences  those  who 
cannot  be  compelled  by  a  secular  authority  to  fulfil  their 
engagements  The  patricians  and  the  plebeians  could 
not  be  looked  upon  as  entirely  members  of  one  com- 
munity as  long  as  only  the  patricians  had,  through  their 
auspices,  intercourse  with  the  gods  of  Rome,  and  for 
that  reason  excluded  the  plebeians  from  the  government 
of  the  state  ;  as  long,  also,  as  marriages  between  patri- 
cians and  plebeians  were  unlawful.  Therefore  the  magis- 
trates of  the  plebs  required  to  be  specially  protected  by 
a  sacred  law,  and,  like  the  ambassadors  of  a  foreign 
power,  to  be  declared  inviolable. 

The  ancient  writers  are  unanimously  of  opinion  that 
the  offices  of  tribune  and  aedile  were  first  created  during 
the  secession,  and  that  they  were  in  fact  the       ^    .    . 

Antiquity  of 

fruit  of  that  secession.  But  we  may  well  ask  the  tribune- 
if  it  is  likely  that  the  plebeians,  who,  as  we  ^  '^' 
have  just  seen,  formed  a  separate  community  for  them- 
selves, had  before  that  time  no  sort  of  organization  of 
their  own  and  no  officers  to  regulate  their  aftairs.  It  seems 
highly  probable  that  the  plebeians  were  not  without  such 
special  plebeian  magistrates,  and  if  so,  it  seems  most 
natural  that  these  magistrates  were  no  other  than  those 
tribunes  and  aediles  whom  they  chose  as  their  legal  pa- 


144  Early  Rome.  CH.  xiii. 

trons.  The  novelty  introduced  by  the  treaty  of  peace  on 
the  sacred  hill  consisted  accordingly  not  in  the  creation 
of  new  offices,  but  in  the  solemn  acknowledgment  on 
the  part  of  the  patricians  that  the  old  plebeian  magis- 
trates should,  under  the  guarantee  of  a  lex  saerata, 
have  authority  to  control  the  official  acts  even  of  patri- 
cian magistrates. 

What  particular  acts  of  patrician  magistrates  were 
likely  to  be  specially  obnoxious  to  plebeians  we  are  not 
told  ;  but  it  is  not  difficult  to  guess  what  they  were.  The 
principal  burden  of  the  citizens  was  the  military  service. 
The  carrying  on  of  the  civil  government  entailed  no  ex- 
pense. The  Roman  people  did  not  groan 
STcicrip-  under  the  weight  of  taxes.  But  every  man 
lion  by  the        ^^^g  liable  to  be  called  out  for  military  ser- 

tnbunes.  . 

vice,  and  it  is  clear  that  great  mjustice  might 
be  practised  by  the  consuls  if  they  disregarded  the  spe- 
cial claims  of  exemption  which  individual  citizens  might 
have.  In  such  cases  the  tribunes  would  interfere,  and 
their  interference  might  amount  to  an  inhibition  of  the 
whole  conscription,  so  that  they  might  actually  veto  a 
war  if  they  were  so  minded.  Their  right  in  this  respect 
resembled,  therefore,  the  privilege  of  a  popular  chamber 
in  modern  times  which  refuses  the  supplies ;  and  as  this 
right  has  secured  to  modern  parliaments  the  chief  con- 
trol of  the  state,  so  the  jus  auxilii  of  the  tribunes  con- 
tained the  germ  of  their  future  power. 

The  number  of  tribunes  originally  chosen  is  stated 
variously  to  have  been  either  two  or  five.  This  diver- 
Number  oi  gence  of  opinion  is  of  little  moment  and  af- 
tribunes.  ^^^^^  ^^1^  ^  ^^^^^,  ^j^^j^j  period  of  time.     All 

authors  are  agreed  that  from  the  Publilian  law,  passed 
in  471  B.  c,  i.  e.,  22  years  after  the  first  secession,  the 
number  was  five,  and  was  raised  to  ten  in  457  b.  c. 


CH.  XIII.  Tribunes  of  the  People.  145 

It  is  more  annoying  that  doubts  should  exist  with 
regard  to  the  original  mode  of  the  election  of  the  tri- 
bunes. Owing  to  the  partly  vague  and  partly  ^ 

,.  r     ^  ■  Original 

contradictory  statements  of  the  writers  on  mode  of 

whom  we  depend  for  our  information,  the 
greatest  difference  of  opinion  prevails  on  this  subject. 
We  cannot  here  enter  into  a  discussion  of  their  conflict- 
ing statements,  and  it  is  therefore  belter  at  once  to  record 
the  result  to  which  a  careful  examination  of  the  whole 
subject  must  lead  us.  It  is  this  :  that  the  tribunes  of  the 
plebs  could  have  been  elected  neither  by  the  patrician 
comitia  curiata,  nor  by  the  military  comitia  centuriata, 
in  which  patriciaps  and  plebeians  were  mixed,  but  only 
by  the  comitia  tributa, — the  assembly  of  the  plebeian 
tribes.  What  these  comitia  were  we  shall  now  proceed 
to  inquire. 

The  old  patrician  popidus,  as  we  have  seen,  was  divi- 
ded into  tribes  (the  Ramnes,  Tities,  and  Lu- 
ceres),  which  were  a  division  of  the  people,  c..mitia 

not  of  the  territory.     This  division  was  the  cunata. 

basis  on  which  the  comitia  curiata  were  established  (pp. 

37.  III). 

In  the  beginning  of  the  republican  period  this  division 
was  superseded,  and  the  division  of  the  people  into  five 
classes  was  substituted,  as  we  have  seen,  according  to  a 
property  qualification.  Thus  arose  the  comitia  centuriata. 
The  five  classes  contained  both  patricians  and  plebeians. 
They  were  established  in  the  first  place  for  military,  in 
the  second,  for  political  purposes.  As  an  assembly  for 
the  election  of  the  higher  magistrates  and  for  legislation, 
they  continued  in  force  to  the  end  of  the  republic,  but 
they  ceased  at  an  early  period  to  be  the  basis  on  which 
the  army  was  formed.  The  conscriptions  for  the  army 
as  far  back  as  the  light  of  history  penetrates,  were  made 


146  Early  Rome.  CH  xill 

^.  .  .        ^       not  according  to  classes,  but  according  to 

Division    of  o  »  o 

the  land  into  tribes,  i.  €.,  v^ AX As  and  districts,  into  which 
the  town  and  territory  were  divided.  These 
local  tribes  accordingly  had  nothing  in  common  with  the 
old  patrician  tribes  but  the  name.  Each  tribe  consisted 
of  the  Roman  citizens  settled  within  its  boundaries,  with- 
out regard  either  to  descent  or  to  property. 

We  are  not  informed  when  this  division  into  tribes 
was  first  made.  As  long  as  the  patricians  had  their  own 
distinct  organization  (the  old  patrician  tribes  and  curies), 
the  division  of  the  territory  into  local  tribes  would  most 
probably  affect  the  plebeians  only,  and  whatever  organi- 
zation they  had  for  self-government  would  be  based  on 
this  division  into  local  tribes.  If  they  elected  officers  of 
their  own,  the  forerunners  of  the  famous  tribunes  of  the 
plebs,  these  officers  were  of  course  elected  by  and  for 
the  tribes,  whence  they  also  derived  their  name.  At 
some  period  which  we  cannot  fix  with  accuracy,  these 
tribes  were  made  military  districts,  /.  e ,  the  troops  were 
levied  tribiitini,  according  to  tribes.  In  fact,  the  whole 
administration  of  the  republic  was  adjusted  to  this  divi- 
sion of  the  territory,  and  when  it  became  necessary  to 
raise  a  tribute,  or  war  tax,  for  the  expenses  of  a  cam- 
paign, the  tax  was  assessed  tributim,  according  to  tribes, 
from  which  circumstance  it  also  received  its  name. 

Thus  arose  a  third  form  of  popular  assembly,  the 
co7nitia  tributa,  or  assembly  of  tribes.  Being  plebeian 
in  its  origin  and  representing  that  com- 
characterof  munity  of  plebeians  who,  as  we  have  seen, 
SbutT'^'"'  formed  a  distinct  body  in  the  Roman  state 
and  almost  a  separate  people,  apart  from 
the  patrician?,  the  comitia  tributa  preserved  this  plebeian 
character  throughout  the  whole  history  of  the  republic. 
Whereas  the  comitia  curiata  had  been  an  aristocratic 


LU.  XIII.  Tribunes  of  the  People.  147 

organization  from  which  the  plebeians  were  excluded, 
and  the  comitia  centuriata  had  given  a  preponderance 
to  wealth,  the  comitia  tributa  were  purely  democratic. 
They  gave  rich  and  poor  an  equal  vote  and  excluded  the 
patricians  who  were  indeed  unfit  to  assist  in  the  transac- 
tion of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  plebeian  body,  and 
especially  to  take  a  share  in  the  election  of  the  tribunes 
of  the  plebs— officers  whose  chief  duty  it  was  to  control 
the  actions  of  patrician  magistrates,  and  thus  to  be  the 
special  patrons  of  the  plebeians. 

By  the  treaty  on  the  Mons  Sacer,  the  comitia  of  tribes 
— /.  e.  the  plebeian  assemblies  of  citizens— were  first  re- 
cognized by  the  patricians  as  invested  with  -phe  comitia 
political  rights,  for  the  patricians  bound  cognJ.^eras 
themselves  to  treat  the  tribunes  of  the  plebs      a  sovereign 

.  J         assembly. 

elected  in  those  comitia  as  persons  invested 
with  public  authority.  They  could  no  longer  ignore  the 
public  and  official  character  of  the  tribunes,  which  we 
may  suppose  might  have  been  their  practice  before  the 
secession.  The  comitia  of  the  plebs,  therefore,  from 
this  moment  acquired  rights  co-extensive  with  the  rights 
of  the  comitia  of  centuries,  though  exerted  in  a  different 
direction.  If  the  centuries  continued  to  elect  the  con- 
suls, the  tribes  now  elected  tribunes  and  aediles,  and  the 
authority  of  these  officers  was  acknowledged  by  the 
whole  community.  By-and-by,  as  we  shall  see,  the 
comitia  of  tribes  extended  their  sphere  of  action,  whilst 
the  centuries  remained  stationary.  The  comitia  of  tribes 
under  the  direction  of  the  tribunes  of  the  plebs  became 
the  moving  power  in  the  commonwealth  to  which  all 
progress  in  constitutional  and  civil  law  is  chiefly  due. 
The  comitia  of  centuries  merely  retained  the  privileges 
which  they  already  possessed,  viz.  the  election  of  consuls 
(and  afterwards  of  praetors  and  censors,  which  offices 


148  Early  Rome.  CH.  xiv. 

had  branched  off  from  the  consulship),  the  right  to  de- 
clare war,  the  decision  in  criminal  appeals,  and  the 
legislation  in  constitutional  law. 

The  original  number  of  local  tribes  was  twenty ;  four 

of  them  were  city  wards,  the  remaining  sixteen  country 

districts.     Soon    after  the  establishment  of 

Number  of        ^j-^g   republic   a  new  tribe  was    added,  and 

local  tribes.  >■ 

their  number  thus  raised  to  twenty-one  ; 
this  number  of  tribes  remained  stationary  for  upwards  of 
one  hundred  years.  Then  began  the  career  of  conquest. 
New  tribes  were  formed  out  of  the  territory  acquired  in 
Etruria,  Latium,  and  in  the  land  of  the  Aequians  and 
Volscians,  until  in  241  B.C.  the  number  thirty-five  was 
reached,  and  the  Roman  citizens  had  become  so  nume- 
rous and  lived  at  such  great  distances  from  one  another 
that  meetings  in  Rome  for  legislation  and  election  had 
become  physically  impossible  to  the  mass  of  them. 
Nevertheless,  the  Romans,  with  their  spirit  of  conser- 
vatism, retained  the  comitia  tributa  to  the  end  of  the  re- 
public, when  they  were  swept  away  with  the  general 
wreck  of  the  old  worn-out  and  antiquated  institutions. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE   AGRARIAN   LAW   OF   SPURIUS   CASSIUS. 

The  great  disparity  of  political  rights  which  separated 

patricians    and    plebeians   had   its    counterpart   in    the 

economic    relations  of  the   two  classes   of 

Wealth  and        citizens.     The  patricians  are  always  repre- 

poverty.  ^  j  r 

sented  as  the  rich,  the  plebeians  as  the 
poor.  In  a  rude  age,  when  the  industrial  arts  and 
trade  were  all  but  unknown,  wealth  consisted  chiefly  in 


CH.  XIV.     Agrarian  Law  of  Spurius  Cassius.  149 

the  possession  of  land  and  cattle.  The  Latin  tongue, 
by  calling  money  pecunia,  i.  e.  "cattle  "  (chattels),  suffi- 
ciently denotes  this  original  identity  of  wealth  with  land 
and  the  produce  of  land.  That  the  patricians,  as  the 
wealthy,  were  the  chief  owners  of  the  soil,  we  might 
infer  h  prion  from  the  circumstance  of  their  being  the 
governing  class  and  the  original  conquerors 
of  the  land  ;  for  it  was  the  invariable  prac-  conquered 
tice  in  ancient  Italy  (a  practice  followed  by  ^^'^^' 
the  Romans  themselves  in  historical  times)  for  the  con- 
querors to  treat  the  conquered  land  as  forfeited,  and  to 
make  such  new  dispositions  with  regard  to  it  as  suited 
their  purposes.  They  usually  left  only  a  portion  of  it, 
one  half  or  even  less,  to  the  old  owners,  and  took  the 
remainder  for  themselves.  This  was  declared  public 
land,  i.  e.  the  land  of  the  popidiis  or  governing  people, 
and  was  occupied  by  members  of  the  ruling  body,  who 
used  either  to  cultivate  it  themselves  or  give  it  in  lots  to 
be  held  and  cultivated  by  their  dependents  or  clients. 
None  of  this  land  reserved  for  the  populus  could  be 
occupied  by  the  inferior  class  of  citizens,  nor  could  such 
portions  of  it  as  were  left  in  pasture  be  used  by  them. 
Other  restrictions  may  be  supposed  to  have  been  made ; 
for  instance,  the  prohibition  of  the  free  purchase  or 
inheritance  of  land  which  had  been  set  apart  for  the 
ruling  class. 

As  long  as  the  memory  of  conquest  was  fresh  in  men's 
minds,   such  institutions  would  not  be  felt   to  involve 
cruelty  or  hardship  ;  for,  according  to  the 
law  of  ancient  warfare,  not  only  the  pro-       Riseofdis- 

_  ^  content 

perty,  but  even    the    libertv  and   life    of  a      among  the 

,  ,  '      ,  .         plebeians. 

conquered   people   were    at   the    mercy    of 

their  conquerors.     Whatever  was   left    to   them  was    a 

free  gift,  and  would  be  appreciated  as  such.     But  when 


1  'jO  Early  Rome.  ch.  xiv. 

iii  course  of  time  the  two  classes  had  gradually  grown 
iiixo  one  people,  it  would  be  felt  that  the  traces  of  the 
original  wrong  inflicted  by  the  stronger  ought  to  be 
effaced.  As  demands  were  made  by  the  plebeians 
for  civil  rights,  so  they  naturally  began  to  claim  a 
release  from  those  restrictions  under  which  they  had 
hitherto  lain  with  regard  to  the  tenure  and  enjoyment 
of  land. 

This  is  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  agrarian  laws 
which  agitated  the  early  republic  side  by  side  with  the 
contests  about  political  rights.  They  did 
agrarian  not  and  could  not  refer  to  the  disposal  of 

^^^^-  newly-conquered    land ;     for    at    the    time 

when  we  hear  of  the  first  agrarian  disputes  there  were 
no  new  conquests  made  by  Rome  and  therefore  there 
was  no  land  to  distribute.  At  a  later  period  the  case 
was  different.  When  Rome  entered  on  her  career  of 
conquest,  and  large  tracts  of  public  land  were  at  her 
disposal,  the  agrarian  disputes  referred  to  these  new 
acquisitions  and  had  consequently  an  entirely  different 
character. 

The  first  agrarian  law  is  said  to  have  been  proposed 

by  a  patrician,  Spurius  Cassius,  who  was  consul  in  the 

year   of  the  secession,  493  B.C.,  and  again 

posais  of  seven  years  later.     The  descriptions  of  his 

Spurius  proposals  given  by  our   informants  are   so 

Cassius.  r       r  o  j 

confused  and  palpably  erroneous  that  we 
can  make  nothing  of  them.  They  proceed  on  the  false 
assumption  that  Rome  had  a  great  deal  of  conquered 
land  to  distribute,  and  they  mix  up  the  account  of  the 
agrarian  law  with  the  conditions  of  a  league  said  to  have 
been  concluded  at  the  same  time  between  Rome  and  her 
neighbours,  the  Latins  and  the  Hernicans.  We  cannot 
attempt  here  to  unravel  the  errors  into  which  the  annal- 


CH.  XV.  League  with  the  Latins.  151 

ists  have  fallen,  nor  to  discuss  the  different  opinions 
held  about  the  nature  of  the  agrarian  law  of  Cassius. 
We  confine  ourselves  to  pointing  out  the  apparent  con- 
nection of  this  proposal  with  the  struggles  of  the  ple- 
beians for  more  equal  rights,  which  seem  to  be  evident 
from  the  facts  that  Spurius  Cassius  was  consul  in  the 
year  of  the  secession  and  that  he  brought  forward  his 
motion  in  his  next  consulship.  He  was  the  first  patri- 
cian who  espoused  the  cause  of  the  plebeians,  and  the 
first  also  who  paid  the  price  of  such  a  policy.  He  was 
charged  with  treasonable  designs,  and  condemned  to 
death  ;  his  law  was  not  carried  into  effect.  It  remamed 
a  dead  letter,  though  it  acted  as  a  stimulus  to  continued 
agitation. 


CHAPTER  XV. 

THE   LEAGUE    WITH   THE    LATINS   AND   HERNICANS. 

The  principle  of  confederation,  which  was  the  chief 
cause  of  Roman  greatness,  seems  to  have  been  common 
to  all  the  aboriginal  races  of  Italy,  and,  in 

r  r  ^  111  .  Prevalence 

fact,  was  forced  upon  them  by  the  necessi-  of  confede- 
ties  of  their  situation.  In  a  time  of  almost  nations. 
incessant  warfare  an  isolated  community  would  soon 
have  been  the  prey  of  some  powerful  foe,  if  it  had  not 
sought  security  in  an  alliance  with  neighbouring  cities 
equally  in  want  of  assistance.  Thus  arose  the  old  league 
of  the  Latins,  of  which  in  pre-historic  times  Alba  Longa 
was  the  head,  and  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  the 
Alban  mount,  the  common  sanctuary.  We  do  not 
know  when  and  how  this  league  was  dissolved  and  Alba 
destroyed :  for  the  story  of  her  destruction  by  the  third 
king  of  Rome  is  in  every  respect  legendary. 


152  Early  Rome.  CH.  xv. 

Yet  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  Rome,  as  reported, 
succeeded  Alba  in  the  headship   of  Latium.     We  hear 
of  no  other  power  strong  enough  to  have 
heaTofa^  brought   about   the   downfall   of  that  city  ; 

kagl!e^^°"'^  and  Rome  was  always  looked  upon  as  the 
successor  of  Alba,  and  took  the  presidency 
at  the  annual  festival  of  the  Latins  on  the  Alban  mount. 
The  stories  of  the  later  kings  represent  Rome  as  ruling 
over  the  Latins.  Under  Servius  Tullius  it  is  said  that  a 
temple  of  Diana  was  built  on  the  Aventine  hill  as  a 
common  sanctuary  of  the  Latins  and  the  Romans  The 
younger  Tarquin,  we  are  told,  reduced  the  towns  of 
Latium  by  force  and  fraud,  and  extended  his  dominion 
over  the  whole  country.  Whatever  may  be  the  truth  of 
these  stories,  the  supremacy  of  Rome  over  Latium,  if  it 
really  existed  towards  the  close  of  the  regal  period,  came 
to  an  end  with  the  expulsion  of  the  kings.  In  all  proba^ 
bility,  as  we  have  seen  above,  the  Latins  helped  the 
Romans  to  throw  off  the  common  yoke,  and  both  Latins 
and  Romans  became  free  at  the  same  time. 

The  pretended  victory  of  Rome  over  the  combined 
cities  of  Latium,  at  Lake  Regillus,  is  a  fable  or  a  misre- 
presentation. {See  p.  88.)  The  Latins  were 
beween^^  SO  far  from  being  conquered  by  republican 
L^thTin"'^  Rome,  that  the  same  year  —  493  b.  c. — 
which  witnessed  the  secession  of  the  plebs 
and  the  establishment  of  the  plebeian  tribunate,  is 
marked  by  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between  Rome  and 
Latium,  in  which  both  appear  as  independent  powers. 

That  such  a  treaty  was  concluded  is  certain,  for  it 
lasted  for  more  than  a  century  and  a  half — that  is  to  say, 
M  tiv    f  down  to  a  period  in  which  the  leading  events 

concluding         are  no  longer  subject  to  historical   doubts. 

the  league.  ....        .     .       ^'^^^       ,  ,  ,     , 

Nor  is  It  difficult  to  understand  the  motives 


CH.  XV.  League  with  the  Latifi^.  153 

which  induced  the  two  nations  to  conclude  such  an  alli- 
ance. It  was  a  renewal  of  that  old  union  between  the 
two  kindred  races,  which  appears  to  have  been  tempo- 
rarily dissolved  after  the  Roman  revolution,  and  it  was 
dictated  by  the  common  interests  of  both.  The  war 
with  the  Tarquins  and  the  Etruscans,  as  we  have  sur- 
mised, was  a  common  war  of  liberation  ;  and  the  Etrus- 
cans remained  for  many  years  the  common  enemies  of 
Rome  and  Latium.  Other  aggressors  threatened  both 
nations  in  the  east  and  south.  In  the  east  the  Aequians, 
a  hardy  and  rapacious  tribe  of  mountaineers,  and  in  the 
south  the  warlike  Volscians,  were  pressing  upon  them. 
The  Latin  towns  formed  for  Rome  aline  of  fortifications 
on  the  south  and  east  against  these  assaults,  and  Rome 
defended  for  Latium  the  line  of  the  Tiber  against  the 
Etruscans  on  the  western  and  northern  sides.  Thus 
both  peoples  were  largely  benefited  by  a  league  for 
mutual  protection,  and  it  seems  to  be  hardly  doubtful 
that  the  preservation  of  the  independence  as  well  of  La- 
tium as  of  Rome  is  due  chiefly  to  this  wise  policy. 

The  league  between  Rome  and  Latium  is  said  to  have 
been  concluded  by  Spurius  Cassius,  who  was  consul  in 
the  year  493  b.  c,  and  author  of  the  agrarian  law  in  his 
third  consulship,  486  b.  c.  Soon  afterwards  another 
nation,  the  Hernicans,  who  lived  further 
eastward  between  the  Aequians  and  the  effect  of  the 
Volscians,  joined  the  league  on  equal  terms.  league. 
The  object  of  the  league  being  simply  mutual  protection 
in  war,  it  left  the  independence  of  each  contracting  city 
unimpaired.  But  it  is  in  the  nature  of  such  alliances 
that  the  stronger  members  gradually  acquire  an  ascen- 
dency which  is  very  nearly  akin  to  dominion.  Rome, 
by  virtue  of  her  extent  and  population,  was  by  far  the 
most  powerful  and  consequently  the  leading  member  of 


154  Early  Rome.  CH.  xvi. 

the  league.  In  course  of  time  some  of  the  Latin  towns 
fell  into  decay  owing  to  the  ravages  of  the  Aequians  and 
Volscians ;  others  were  actually  destroyed  and  laid 
waste  ;  others  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemies  and 
became  Aequian  or  Volscian  towns  in  Latium.  Rome 
and  her  allies  were  by  no  means  always  victorious.  On 
the  contrary,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years  they  suf- 
fered more  harm  than  they  inflicted.  The  Volscians 
succeeded  in  penetrating  into  the  very  heart  of  Latium, 
threatening  even  Rome  itself.  The  Aequians  lay  like  a 
hostile  garrison  on  Mount  Algidus  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Tibur  and  Prseneste.  War  raged  from  year 
to  year.  Military  training  was  more  important  than 
peaceful  work.  The  Roman  citizens  and  their  Latin 
allies  acquired  in  this  hard  school  that  discipline  and 
warlike  spirit,  that  unshaken  bravery  and  endurance 
which  distinguished  them  ever  after.  Whatever  the 
hardships  and  miseries  of  this  period  were,  the  walls  of 
Rome  resisted  all  attacks,  whilst  the  Latins  suffered  so 
much  that  they  were  reduced  from  the  rank  of  allies  to 
that  of  subject.  The  league  thus  proved  highly  benefi- 
cial to  Rome.  It  served  to  protect  her,  and  it  raised  her 
to  a  pre-eminence  which  she  could  not  have  otherwise 
attained. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

THE   WARS   WITH    THE   VOLSCIANS   AND   AEQUIANS. 

The  history  of  the  wars  with  the  Volscians  and  Aequi- 
ans, as  narrated  by  Livy,  is  destitute  of  all  historical 
value.  It  is  a  succession  of  battles,  sieges,  triumphs 
and  reverses,  which  are  evidently  the  product  of  the 
imagination,   with    a  very  slight  infusion  of  trustworthy 


CH.  XVI.  Volscian  and  Aequian  Wars.  155 

tradition.  Exaggeration,  vainglory  and  repetition,  reck- 
less invention  and  contradiction  are  discoverable  on 
every  page.  It  would  be  in  the  highest  degree  unprofit- 
able to  examine  these  accounts  in  detail,  and  to  burthen 
the  memory  with  facts,  dates  and  names  so  unreal.  We 
shall  content  ourselves  with  justifying  this  opinion  by 
reviewing  shortly  the  celebrated  stories  of  Coriolanus 
and  Cincinnatus,  as  characteristic  both  of  the  wars  to 
which  they  refer  and  of  the  historians  who  relate  them. 

In  the  year  after  the  secession  of  the  plebs  (492  b.  c.) 
there  was  a  famine  in  Rome  ;  for  during  the  civil  con- 
tention   the   plebeians    had   not    cultivated 
their  own  lands,  and  they  had  laid  waste  ofCorio- 

the  fields  of  their  adversaries.  There  was, 
therefore,  great  distress  among  the  poor  plebeians,  and 
they  would  have  fallen  victims  to  hunger  if  the  consuls 
had  not  bought  corn  in  Etruria  and  distributed  it  to  the 
starving  people.  But  even  this  was  not  sufficient,  and 
the  people  suffered  great  want,  till  corn  arrived  from 
Sicily,  which  Dionysius,  the  tyrant  of  Syracuse,  sent  as 
a  present  to  the  Romans. 

There  was  at  that  time  in  Rome  a  brave  patrician, 
whose  name  was  Caius  Marcius.  He  had  conquered 
the  town  of  Corioli  in  the  preceding  vear  when  the 
Romans  were  carrying  on  war  with  the  Volscians,  and 
for  this  reason  his  fellow-soldiers  had  oriven  him  the 
surr^ame  Coriolanus.  This  man  set  himself  stoutly 
against  the  plebeians,  for  he  hated  them  because  they 
had  won  the  tribuneship  from  the  senate.  He  therefore 
advised  the  consuls  not  to  divide  the  corn  among  the 
plebeians  unless  they  surrendered  their  newly-acquired 
right  and  abolished  the  office  of  the  tribunes. 

When  the  plebeians  heard  this  they  were  'Enraged, 
and  would  have  killed  him  had  not  the  tribunes  pro- 


156  Early  Eo7ne.  CH.  xvi. 

tected  him  from  the  fury  of  the  crowd,  and  accused 
him  before  the  assembly  of  the  people  of  having  broken 
the  peace  and  violated  the  sacred  kiws.  But  Coriolanus 
mocked  the  people  and  the  tribunes,  showing  haughty 
defiance  and  presumptuous  pride  ;  and  as  he  did  not 
appear  before  the  people  assembled  to  try  him,  he  was 
banished.  Vowing  that  he  would  be  revenged  on  his 
enemies,  he  went  to  Antium,  where  he  lived  as  the 
guest  of  Attius  Tulli  is,  the  chief  of  the  Volscians.  After 
this  the  two  men  consulted  together  how  they  might 
persuade  the  Volscians  to  make  war  on  the  Romans.  It 
happened  that  at  this  time  the  great  games  were  cele- 
brated in  Rome  in  honour  of  Jupiter ;  and  a  great  num- 
ber of  Volscians  came  to  Rome  to  see  the  games. 
Then  Attius  Tullius  went  secretly  to  the  consuls,  and 
advised  them  to  take  care  that  his  countrymen  did  not 
break  the  peace  during  the  festive  season.  When  the 
consuls  heard  this,  they  sent  heralds  through  the  town, 
and  caused  it  to  be  proclaimed  that  all  Volscians  should 
leave  the  town  before  night.  The  Volscians,  exaspe- 
rated at  this  outrage  to  their  nation,  proceeded  in  a 
body  to  return  home  by  the  Latin  road.  This  road  led 
past  the  spring  of  Ferentina,  where  at  one  time  the 
Latins  used  to  hold  their  councils.  Here  Attius  was 
waiting  for  his  countrymen,  and  excited  them  against 
Rome,  saying  that  they  had  been  shut  out  unjustly  from 
sharing  in  the  sacred  festivities,  as  if  they  had  been 
guilty  of  sacrilege,  or  were  not  worthy  to  be  treated  as 
allies  and  friends  by  the  Roman  people.  Thus  a  new 
war  with  Rome  was  decided  on,  and  Attius  Tullius  and 
C.  Marcius  Coriolanus  set  out  with  a  large  army,  and 
conquered  in  one  campaign  many  of  the  most  important 
towns  of  Latium. 

After  this  the  Volscians  advanced  to  Rome,  and  en- 


CH.  XVI.  Volscian  dfid  Aequian  Wars.  157 

camping  near  the  Fossa  Cluilia,  five  miles  from  the 
town,  they  laid  waste  the  land  of  the  plebeians  round 
about.  Then  the  Romans  were  seized  with  despair,  and 
were  afraid  to  advance  against  the  Volscians  or  fight 
them  in  the  field  ;  but  looking  for  deliverance  only  from 
the  mercy  of  their  conquerors,  they  sent  the  principal 
senators  as  ambassadors  to  Coriolanus  to  sue  for  peace. 
But  Coriolanus  answered  that,  unless  the  Romans  re- 
stored to  the  Volscians  all  the  conquered  towns,  peace 
would  not  be  granted.  When  the  same  ambassadors 
came  a  second  time  to  ask  for  more  favourable  condi- 
tions, Coriolanus  would  not  even  see  them.  Thereupon 
the  chief  priests  came  to  his  tent  in  their  sacred  robes 
and  with  the  insignia  of  their  office,  and  tried  to  calm  his 
anger.  But  they  strove  in  vain.  At  last  the  noblest 
Roman  matrons  came  to  Veturia,  the  mother  of  Coriola- 
nus, and  to  Volumnia,  his  wife,  and  persuaded  them  to 
accompany  them  into  the  enemy's  camp,  and  with  their 
prayers  and  tears  to  soften  the  conqueror's  heart  and  to 
save  the  town,  which  the  men  could  not  protect  with 
their  arms. 

Now,  when  the  procession  of  Roman  matrons  ap- 
proached the  Volscian  camp,  and  Coriolanus  recognized 
his  mother,  his  wife,  and  his  little  children,  he  was  deeply 
moved,  and  listened  to  the  entreaties  of  the  matrons,  and 
granted  their  request,  saying,  "  O,  my  mother!  Rome 
thou  hast  saved,  but  thou  hast  lost  thy  son,"  And  forth- 
with he  led  the  army  of  the  Volscians  away  from  Rome, 
and  gave  back  all  the  conquered  towns.  But  he  never 
returned  to  Rome,  because  he  had  been  banished  by 
the  people,  and  he  closed  his  life  in  exile  among  the 
Volscians, 

The  whole  of  this  pretty  story  when  examined  by  the 
light  of  historical  criticism  vanishes  into   air.     Neither 


158  Early  Rome.  ch.  xvi. 

the  hero's  name,  nor  his  banishment,  nor  his 

Criticism   of  .  .  .    . 

the  story  of  rapid  conquests,  nor  the  mtercession  of  the 
Roman  matrons,  belong  to  history.  We 
know  for  certain  that  Scipio  Africanus,  more  than  400 
years  later,  was  the  first  Roman  who  received  a  surname 
to  commemorate  a  conquest.  Hence  Caius  Marcius 
could  not  have  been  called  Coriolanus  from  the  capture 
of  Corioli.  Besides,  Corioli  could  hardly  have  been 
taken  by  the  Romans  from  the  Volscians  in  492,  as  in 
493  it  is  enumerated  among  the  Latin  cities  which  con- 
cluded a  league  with  Rome.  The  Volscians,  the  constant 
enemies  of  the  republic,  could  not  be  present  at  the 
Roman  games,  nor  could  they  assemble  at  the  grove  of 
Ferentina,  which  was  a  trysting-place  of  the  Latins. 
Coriolanus  could  not  be  banished  by  the  Roman  ple- 
beians on  the  accusation  of  the  tribunes,  for  the  tribunes 
who  had  just  been  elected  had  as  yet  only  the  right  of 
protecting  plebeians  from  unjust  treatment,  not  the 
power  of  prosecuting  patricians  before  an  assembly  of 
the  plebs.  The  rapid  conquests  of  the  Volscians  under 
the  command  of  Coriolanus  are  nothing  short  of  miracu- 
lous. The  capture  of  twelve  towns  in  one  summer  cam- 
paign is  a  success  which  suits  fiction,  but  is  unequalled 
in  the  history  of  early  Rome.  Yet  after  such  conquests 
Coriolanus  insists  upon  the  Romans  giving  up  these 
towns,  as  if  he  could  not  hold  what  he  had  taken  ;  and 
when  he  is  induced  by  private  and  personal  motives  to 
make  peace,  he  is  so  reckless  of  the  interests  of  his 
Volscian  friends,  who  after  all  were  the  real  conquerors, 
that  he  generously  restores  his  conquests  to  the  Romans. 
These  Romans,  at  other  times  so  ready  to  come  forward 
and  fight  their  enemies,  shrink  like  cowards  behind  their 
walls  and  send  messengers  to  entreat  the  mercy  of  the 
conqueror,  without,  however,  offering  the  slightest  con- 


CH.  XVI.         Volscian  and  Aequian  Wars.  159 

cessions.  They  hit  upon  a  novel  scheme.  They  send 
priests  to  propitiate  the  anger  of  their  exasperated  fellow- 
citizen,  a  thing  which  they  never  did  before  or  after,  ana 
which  their  whole  system  of  public  and  sacred  law 
forbade.  More  than  that,  an  embassy  of  matrons 
comes  out  to  the  hostile  camp.  We  almost  fancy  we  see 
again  the  Sabine  matrons  who  rushed  between  the 
angry  combatants  to  establish  peace  in  the  time  of 
Romulus.  Such  a  scene  is  effective  and  proper  in  fiction, 
but  impossible  in  the  history  of  Rome.  Neither  matrons 
nor  priests  could  be  employed  on  political  embassies. 
The  writer  who  invented  such  a  story  must  have  been 
ignorant  of  Roman  institutions. 

What  circumstance  gave  rise  to  the  story  of  Coriolanus 
it  is  impossible  for  us  to  say.  It  may  be  a  mere  fiction 
designed  to  glorifv  the  Roman  matrons.   At 

•  '  ,       1         ,  ,  ,•    1  Effect  of  the 

any  rate,  it  was  not  calculated  to  throw  light  Volsdan 
on  the  history  of  the  Volscian  wars.  These 
wars  continued,  apparently  without  interruption,  during 
the  whole  period  we  have  under  review.  The  Volscians 
obtained  a  settlement  in  southern  Latium,  where  their 
most  important  town  was  the  seaport,  Antium.  But 
after  the  decemvirate  (450  b.  c.)  their  power  visibly  de- 
creased. The  Romans  and  Latins  recovered  some  of 
the  lost  ground,  and  finally  extended  their  league  over 
the  whole  district  from  the  Tiber  to  the  confines  of  Cam- 
pania. 

Peace  was  concluded  with  the  Acquians  in  the  year 
459  B.C.,  and  the  Romans  expected  no  hostilities  on  that 
side.   But  soon  after  this  the  faithless  Aequi-  ^^ 

-  ,       ,       .  ,      ,      ,  r  rJ^  The  story 

ans  suddenly  mvaded  the  country  of  Tus-  ofCincin- 

culum,   and    their    commander,    Gracchus 
Cloelius,  pitched  his  camp  on  the  hill  Algidus,  the  east- 
ern spur  of  the  Alban  range,  from  whence  he  laid  waste 


i6o  Early  Rome.  CK.  xvi. 

the  land  of  the  Roman  aUies.  Here  Quintus  Fabius  ap- 
peared before  him  at  the  head  of  an  embassy,  and  de- 
manded satisfaction  and  compensation.  But  Cloelius 
laughed  at  the  ambassadors,  and,  mocking  them,  said 
they  should  lay  their  coiriplaints  before  the  oak  tree 
under  which  his  tent  was  pitched.  Then  the  Romans 
took  the  oak  and  all  the  gods  to  witness  that  the 
Aequians  had  broken  the  peace  and  had  begun  an  un- 
righteous war;  and  without  delay  the  consul  Minucius 
led  an  army  against  them.  But  the  chances  of  war  were 
not  in  his  favour.  He  was  defeated,  and  blockaded  in 
his  camp.  At  this  news  terror  prevailed  in  Rome  as  if 
the  enemy  were  at  the  very  gates  ;  for  the  second  consul 
was  far  away  with  his  army,  fighting  with  the  Sabines, 
the  allies  of  the  Aequians. 

There  was  nothing  now  to  be  done  but  to  name  a 
dictator,  and  only  one  man  seemed  to  be  fit  to  fill  the 
post.  This  was  Lucius  Quinctius  Cincinnatus,  a  noble 
patrician  who  had  long  served  his  country  in  peace  and 
war  as  senator  and  consul,  and  was  then  living  quietly 
at  home  cultivating  his  small  estate  with  his  own  hands. 
Now,  when  the  messengers  of  the  senate  came  to  Cin- 
cinnatus to  announce  to  him  that  he  was  nominated 
dictator,  they  found  him  ploughing,  and  he  had  taken 
off  his  garments,  for  the  heat  was  great.  Therefore  he 
first  asked  his  wife  to  bring  him  his  toga,  that  he  might 
receive  the  message  of  the  senate  in  a  becoming  manner. 
And  when  he  had  heard  their  errand,  he  went  with  them 
into  the  town,  accepted  the  dictatorship,  and  chose  for 
the  master  of  the  horse  Lucius  Tarquitius,  a  noble  but 
poor  patrician.  Then,  having  ordered  that  all  the  courts 
of  justice  should  be  closed,  and  all  common  business 
suspended  till  the  danger  was  averted  from  the  country, 
he  summoned  all  men  who  could  bear  arms  to  meet  in 


CH.  XVI  Volscian  a)id  Atquian  Wars.  i6i 

the  evening  on  the  Field  of  Mars,  every  man  with  twelve 
stakes  for  ramparts,  and  provisions  for  five  days ;  and 
before  the  sun  went  down  the  army  had  started  off,  and 
reached  Mount  Algidus  at  midnight. 

Now,  when  the  dictator  5aw  that  they  were  drawing 
near  to  the  enemy,  he  bade  the  men  halt  and  throw 
their  baggage  in  a  heap,  and  he  quietly  surrounded  the 
camp  of  the  Aequians,  and  gave  orders  to  make  a  ditch 
round  the  enemy  and  drive  in  the  stakes.  Then  the 
Romans  raised  a  loud  cry,  so  that  the  Aequians  were 
overcome  by  terror  and  despair ;  but  the  legions  of  the 
consul  Minucius  recognized  the  war-cry  of  their  country- 
men, seized  their  arms,  and  sallied  forth  from  their 
camp.  Thus  the  Aequians  were  attacked  on  both  sides, 
and  seeing  there  was  no  escape,  surrendered,  and  prayed 
for  mercy.  Cincinnatus  granted  them  their  lives,  and 
allowed  them  all  to  depart  home  unharmed  after  passing 
naked  under  the  yoke,  except  Gracchus  Cloelius  and  the 
other  commanders.  These  he  kept  as  prisoners  of  war, 
and  he  divided  the  spoil  among  his  victorious  soldiers. 
In  this  manner  Cincinnatus  rescued  the  blockaded  army, 
and  returned  in  triumph  to  Rome;  and  when  he  had  de- 
livered his  country  from  its  enemies,  he  laid  down  his 
office  on  the  sixteenth  day,  and  returned  to  his  fields, 
crowned  with  glory  and  honoured  by  the  people,  but 
poor,  and  contented  in  his  poverty. 

The  story  of  Cincinnatus  differs  in  character  from  that 
of  Coriolanus,  and  seems  to  have  a  genuine  historical 
basis.  It  is  not  a  mere  fiction,  but  only  a 
boastful,  distorted,  and  exaggerated  account  tions  of  the 
of  what  may  have  really  happened,  and  it  is  ^^°''y- 
in  so  far  a  good  specimen  of  the  usual  performances  of 
the  Roman  annalists.  It  is  also  worthy  of  notice  that 
with  some  variations  it  is  related  not  less  than  five  times 


i62  Early  Rone.  CH.  xvii. 

under  five  different  years  (466,  460,  458,  443.  440  b.  c). 
It  cannot,  therefore,  contribute  much  to  our  knowledge 
of  the  wars  with  the  Aequians. 

These  wars  continued  to  harass  Rome  and  her  aUies 
for  the  whole  of  the  first  century  of  the  republic,  and, 
like  the  Volscian  wars,  contributed  to  enforce 
Character  military  discipline  upon  the  citizens  and  to 

Aequian  improve  their  tactics,  whilst  the  constantly 

^^^^'  impending  danger  arising  from  them  had  no 

doubt  the  effect  of  mitigating  the  internal  conflicts  be- 
tween patricians  and  plebeians.  For  nearly  fifty  years 
the  Romans  and  their  allies  were  hard  pressed.  The 
Aequians  established  themselves  on  the  Alban  hills 
in  the  heart  of  Latium,  whence  they  pushed  their  inroads 
to  the  very  walls  of  Rome.  But  it  seems  that  after  the 
decemvirate  the  Aequians,  hke  the  Volscians,  relaxed  in 
their  national  vigour.  Whether  owing  to  the  hostility  of 
the  Samnites  in  their  rear,  or  to  other  causes,  they  gradu- 
ally ceased  to  be  dangerous,  so  that  the  Romans  were 
enabled  to  turn  their  attention  to  the  north-west  and  to 
begin  their  career  of  conquest  on  the  side  of  Etruria. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

WAR   WITH    THE   ETRUSCANS. 

When,  in  the  beginning  of  the  republic,  the  Etruscans 
were  expelled  from  Latium,  they  did  not  entirely  lose 
their  hold  of  the  country  on  that  side  of  the 
STtowiT'of  Tiber.  They  continued  masters  of  Fidense. 
Fidenae.  ^  strong  town  at  a  distance  of  but  five  miles 

from  Rome.  Constant  hostilities  seem  to  have  gone  on 
between  the  Romans  and  the  people  of  Fidenae,  in 
which  the  latter  were  usually  supported  by  their  coun- 


CH.  XVII.  Etruscan  Wars.  163 

trymen  across  the  Tiber,  especially  the  Veientines.  In 
fact,  Fidense,  at  an  equal  distance  from  Rome  and  Veil, 
seems  to  have  been  a  military  post  of  the  latter  town,  a 
tete  de  pont  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber,  by  which  the 
Veientines  were  enabled,  whenever  they  liked,  to  cross 
the  river  into  Latium  and  to  harass  Rome  and  her  allies 
by  their  plundering  incursions. 

It  was  obviously  to  obtain  a  similar  footing  on  the 
Etruscan  side  of  the  Tiber  that  in  479  b.  c. 
the  Romans  determined  to  establish  a  fort  on'the"cre- 
on  the  small  river  Cremera  not  far  from  Veii.  '"^''^• 
Such  military  settlements  were  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  early  wars  in  Italy,  as  well  as  Greece,  as  they 
enabled  invaders  to  secure  their  hold  on  conquered  dis- 
tricts. The  colonies  which  Rome  established  in  the 
course  of  her  conquests  were  mainly  such  military  posts, 
and  proved  the  successful  means  of  incorporating  gra- 
dually the  whole  peninsula  in  the  dominion  of  the  re- 
public. 

The  settlement  on  the  Cremera  gave  rise  to  a  popular 
legend  not  less  characteristic  of  the  early  wars  and  of 
the  style  of  the  early  annals  than  the  stories 
of  Coriolanus  and  Cincinnatus.     The  noble       Story  of  the 

Fabu. 

house  of  the  Fabii,  it  is  said,  volunteered  to 
secure  Rome  from  the  inroads  of  the  Veientines.  They 
obtained  the  sanction  of  the  senate  for  this  patriotic  en- 
terprise, mustered  the  whole  strength  of  the  house,  306 
fighting  men,  and  marched  out  under  the  command  of 
Kaeso  Fabius,  the  consul,  to  carry  on  the  war  with  Veii, 
at  their  own  risk  and  expense.  They  built  a  fort  on  the 
river  Cremera  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Veii,  and  sally- 
ing forth  from  this  place  of  safety,  they  ravaged  the 
land  of  the  Veientines  and  kept  them  in  check  for  two 
years,  so  that  they  could  not  think  of  carrying  the  war 


164  Early  Rome.  CH.  xvii. 

across  the  Tiber.  But  when,  on  the  anniversary  of  a 
solemn  festival  of  their  family,  the  Fabii  proceeded  in 
peaceful  guise  to  offer  up  a  sacrifice  on  the  Quirinal 
hill,  the  Veientines,  disregarding  the  truce  of  the  gods, 
laid  an  ambush  on  the  road  to  Rome,  fell  upon  the  Fabii 
unawares,  and  killed  them  to  a  man.  Thus  the  whole 
Fabian  house  would  have  been  extirpated,  had  not  one 
boy  been  left  behind  at  Rome,  on  account  of  his  tender 
age,  when  the  men  of  his  house  marched  out  to  fight 
the  Veientines.  This  child  became  the  ancestor  of  the 
Fabii,  who  served  the  state  for  many  years  as  men  emi- 
nent in  council  and  in  the  field. 

The  disasters  of  the  Fabii  almost  proved  fatal  to 
Rome.  The  Veientines,  following  up  their  success,  de- 
feated a  Roman  army  under  the  consul  Menenius,  and 
actually  effected  a  lodgment  on  the  hill  Janiculus  oppo- 
site Rome.  They  crossed  the  Tiber  and  cut  off  Rome 
from  Latium.  But  the  size  and  natural  strength  of  the 
capital  proved  the  safety  of  the  republic.  The  Veien- 
tines, unable  to  carry  on  a  regular  siege,  were  beaten 
off  in  a  series  of  engagements,  driven  from  the  Janiculus, 
and  compelled  to  seek  a  refuge  in  their  own  country. 
The  war  ended  in  an  armistice  for  forty  years,  and  Rome 
vi^as  thus  enabled  to  direct  all  her  strength  against  her 
inveterate  enemies  on  the  east  and  south. 

There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  legend  of  the 
Fabii  on  the  Cremera  has  a  foundation  in  fact.  It  was 
recorded,  probably  in  the  pontifical  annals, 
foindrtioli  that  on  their  march  to  that  fatal  expedition 
of  the  story.  ^^  ^q^  YCi^Vi  went  through  the  right-hand 
arch  of  the  Porta  Carmentalis,  and  this  passage  was 
for  ever  after  held  to  be  unlucky,  and  was  avoided  by 
soldiers  leaving  the  city  for  the  field.  But  we  must  of 
course,  expect  to  find  the  story  decked  out  with  fictitious 


CH.  XVIII.  Decemviral  Legislation.  165 

ornaments,  and  disfigured,  as  is  usual  in  the  early 
annals  of  Rome,  by  exaggerations  and  inconsistencies. 
We  can  discover  in  it,  we  think,  the  spirit  of  a  Fabian 
family  chronicler  who  drew  his  information  from  fu- 
neral orations  of  the  Fabian  house.  It  all  redounds  to 
the  glory  of  this  great  family.  The  Fabii  wage  war 
for  the  republic  on  their  own  account.  They  number 
306  fighting  men,  a  figure  palpably  and  foolishly  ex- 
aggerated. And  to  make  the  story  more  telling,  the 
narrator  informs  us  that  in  this  large  house  there  was 
just  one  child  of  an  age  so  tender  that  he  could  not  join 
the  expedition,  and  thus  was  left  behind.  It  is  not  ne- 
cessary to  point  out  the  physical  impossibility  of  a  pro- 
portion of  one  boy  to  306  men.  Vagaries  of  fancy  such 
as  this  we  must  take  into  the  bargain,  and  rest  thankful 
if  the  story  is  not  altogether  devoid  of  all  elements  of 
historical  truth. 

The  peace  or  truce  concluded  between  Rome  and 
Veil  in  474  b.  c.  seems  to  have  been  observed  faithfully 
on  both  sides.  We  hear  of  no  hostilities  between  the 
two  nations  till  438  b.  c,  when  the  wars  began  which 
finally  led  to  the  destruction  of  the  Etruscan  city  in 

396  B.  C. 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 

THE   DECEMVIRS   AND   THE   LAWS    OF  THE  TWELVE 
TABLES.— 451-442    B.C. 

By  the  establishment  of  the  office  of  tribunes,  493  B.  c, 
the  plebeian  assembly  of  tribes  acquired  the  rank  and 
weight  of  a  national  assembly,  inasnmch  as 
the  officers  elected  by  it  were  invested  with  Publilian 

public  authority,  and  were  recognized  and  '^^'' 

submitted  to  by  the  patricians  no  less  than  the  plebe- 


1 66  Early  Rome.  ch.  xviil. 

ians.  It  seems  that  in  consequence  of  the  extended 
rights  thus  gained  by  the  comitia  of  tribes  the  patricians 
claimed  to  have  votes  in  them.  If  they  had  succeeded 
in  this  claim,  the  tribunes  would  have  ceased  to  be 
magistrates  of  the  plebs  alone ;  they  would  have  become, 
what  the  consuls  were,  viz.,  magistrates  not  of  a  class 
or  fraction  of  the  Roman  people,  but  of  the  whole  com- 
munity; patricians  would  have  become  eligible  to  the 
office,  and  the  great  contrast  between  patricians  and 
plebeians  would  have  gradually  disappeared.  Perhaps 
this  would  have  been  salutary  in  the  end.  But  the  ple- 
beians vehemently  opposed  the  admission  of  patricians 
into  their  own  comitia.  They  would  not  allow  their 
patrons,  the  tribunes,  to  be  elected  by  anybody  but 
themselves,  and  they  insisted  upon  the  rigid  exclusion  of 
patricians  from  the  plebeian  assembly.  A  law  was 
passed  in  471  B.C.,  called,  after  its  author,  Volero  Pub- 
lilius,  the  Publilian  law.  to  secure  the  election  of  the 
plebeian  tribunes  exclusively  to  the  plebs. 

This  law,  passed  only  twenty-two  years  after  the  seces- 
sion, did  not  introduce  a  new  principle  but  was  only  de- 
claratory of  an  established  right.  By  it,  moreover,  ac- 
cording to  some  writers,  the  number  of  tribunes  was 
raised  from  two  to  five. 

The  tribunes  of  the  people  did  not  long  confine  them- 
selves to  the  duties  for  which  they  were  primarily  elected. 
Not  satisfied  with  protecting  plebeians  from 

Advancing  .  ^  .    .  . 

claims  of  the  unjust  treatment  of  patrician  magistrates, 
plebeians.  ^^i^y  aimed  at  raising  the  inferior  citizens  to 

an  equality  with  the  ruling  class  in  all  private  and  pub- 
lic rights.  The  times  were  past  when  the  patricians 
could  claim  to  represent  the  people  of  Rome  and  to 
wield  exclusively  all  political  power.  It  had  become 
clear  on  the  occasion    of  the  secession  that  the  patri- 


CH.  XVIII.  Deceinviral  Legislation.  167 

cians  were  helpless  without  the  plebeians.  The  frequent 
wars  could  not  be  carried  on  without  the  men,  who  by 
that  time  undoubtedly  formed  the  greater  part  of  the 
army.  The  privileges  of  birth,  of  presumed  sanctity,  of 
exclusive  political  and  legal  experience,  and,  above  all, 
of  prescriptive  possession  of  power,  could  not  outweigh 
the  claim  which  the  plebeians  now  put  forth  as  the  great 
bulk  of  the  people  and  especially  of  the  fighting  men. 

The  first  object  of  the  plebeians,  however,  was  not  a 
share  of  political  power,  but  a  more  effective  legal  pro- 
tection than  even  the  new  office  of  tribunes 
had  secured  for  them.  They  asked  for  Terentilian 
two  things— first,  the  removal  of  all  inequali-  Rogations, 
ties  between  themselves  and  the  patricians  us  far  as  pri- 
vate rights  were  concerned  ;  and,  secondly,  a  codifica- 
tion of  the  laws  thus  reformed.  This  was  the  object  of 
an  agitation  set  on  foot  by  Terentilius  Arsa,  a  tribune  of 
the  people,  in  462  B.C. 

The  motion  of  Terentilius  met  with  a  violent  opposi- 
tion from  those  conservative  politicians  who  felt  and 
acted  as  if  human  institutions  ought  to  be  unchangeable, 
like  the  laws  of  nature.  The  contest  lasted  for  ten  years. 
The  tribunes  had  as  yet  no  seats  in  the  senate,  and  were 
therefore  unable  to  advocate  their  projected  reform  in 
that  assembly.  They  could  only  harangue  their  fellow 
plebeians  in  public  meetings,  called  "contiones";  but 
these  contiones  had  not,  like  the  comitia,  the  power  of 
passing  laws.  The  agitation  of  the  tribunes  therefore 
resembled  that  which  is  exercised  in  modern  times  by 
the  press  or  by  public  meetings.  To  obtain  the  force  of 
law,  like  an  act  of  parliament,  the  proposals  of  the  tri- 
bunes had  to  be  sanctioned  by  a  majority  of  the  sena- 
tors ;  and  this  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  effect  at  a  time 
when  the  senate   consisted  as  yet  entirely  of  patricians 


1 68  Early  Rome.  CH.  xviii. 

and  did  not  admit  the  tribunes  of  the  plebs  to  a  seat  or 
a  vote.  There  would  have  been  no  prospect  of  final 
success  if  the  senators  had  to  a  man  resisted  the  reform. 
But  fortunately  for  Rome  the  ruling  class  did  not  consist 
exclusively  of  men  opposed  to  all  progress.  Like  the 
English  nobility,  it  seems  to  have  included  at  all  times  a 
number  of  men  enlightened  enough  to  see  that  reforms 
are  sometimes  demanded  by  the  necessities  of  national 
life,  if  not  by  generosity  or  justice.  Such  were  the  Va- 
lerii,  Spurius  Cassius,  M.  Manlius,  and,   above   all,  the 

members  of  the  Claudian  family— men  of  a 
femily  ^^"'^'^^    haughty  and  overbearing  spirit,  yet  ready  to 

encounter  the  hostility  of  the  ruling  class  for 
the  benefit  of  the  greater  number  and  of  the  state.  These 
men  had  the  wisdom  to  see  that  Rome  had  no  chance 
of  making  head  against  her  numerous  enemies  all 
around,  if  she  was  paralyzed  by  discord  and  civil  strife 
at  home.  They  counselled  conciliation,  which  had  been 
found  effective  on  the  occasion  of  the  secession  thirty 
years  before ;  and  it  was  owing  to   their  exertions,  no 

doubt,  that  several  concessions  were  made 
t?the  pkbs^.      ^°  ^^  plebeians,  such  as  the  increase  of  the 

number  of  tribunes  from  five  to  ten,  the 
limitation  of  the  fines  which  magistrates  should  be  al- 
lowed to  inflict,  and  a  change  in  the  tenure  of  land  on 
the  Aventine  hill  in  favour  of  the  plebs  (the  law  of  Ici- 
lius  "de  Aventino  publicando  "),  the  exact  nature  of 
which  we  are  unfortunately  unable  to  understand. 

Yet  these  concessions,  if  they  were  intended  to  make 
the  plebeians  forego  the  desire  of  the  reform  of  Teren- 
tilius,  proved  of  no  eft'ect.  Year  after  year  the  demand 
for  law  reform  was  repeated  ;  and  at  last,after  a  struggle, 
protracted  through  ten  years,  the  government,  z.  e.  the 
senate,  in  the  name  of  the  patrician  body,  consented.  It 


CH.  XVIII.  Decemvira/  Legislation.  169 

was  agreed  that  the  existing  forms  of  government  should 
be  suspended  ;  that  in  the  place  of  the  patrician  consuls 
and  the  plebeian  tribunes  ten  men,  "  decem- 
virs," should    be    elected   indiscriminately       Election  of 

-'  decemvirs. 

from  the  two  orders  of  citizens,  empowered 
to  carry  on  the  regular  government,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  reform  the  existing  law,  and  to  equalize  the  pri- 
vate rights  of  plebeians  and  patricians  ;  finally,  in  order 
to  prevent  any  ambiguity,  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  un- 
certainty inseparable  from  unwritten  laws,  it  was  resolved 
that  the  laws  should  be  written  down  and  made  known 
vo  the  public. 

The  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  drawn  up  in  conse- 
quence of  this  resolution,  continued  in  force  for  many 
ages,  and  even  in  Cicero's  time  formed  part  _,  , 
of  the  elementary  school  teachmg  of  Roman  the  Twelve 
boys.  Unfortunately,  only  fragments  of  them 
have  come  down  to  us.  Yet  these  fragments  are  of  in- 
valuable service  in  the  study  of  Roman  life  and  man- 
ners. The  documentary  history  of  Rome  may  be  said 
to  begin  with  these  laws. 

The  time  of  legendary  stories  and  of  mere  tradition 
is  past.     Nevertheless  when  we  read  the  account  given 
by  Livy  of  the  transactions  which  led  to  the 
legislation  of  the  decemvirs  and  especially   of^the^an-^^ 
of  those  which  caused  their  overthrow,  we    "ahstic 

accounts. 

feel  the  greatest  disappointment  and  irrita- 
tion ;  for  instead  of  a  plain,  unvarnished  tale  we  find 
statements  so  contradictory,  unintelligible,  and  incredible 
that  we  cannot  possibly  accept  them  as  they  are, 
although  we  have  not  sufficient  external  evidence  to  sift 
and  to  correct  them.  We  can  only  hope  to  test  them  by 
general  arguments  and  by  applying  to  them  the  laws  of 
historical   probability,   availing   ourselves   at  the   same 


lyo  Early  Rome.  CH.  xviii. 

time  of  some  features  of  the  story,  which  we  have  a 
right  to  look  upon  as  remnants  of  a  trustworthy  tra- 
dition. 

Before  the  decemvirs  entered  on  their  office,  it  was 
determined,  as  Livy  informs  us,  to  send  an  embassy  to 
Athens  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  cele- 
AtheS^^  *°  brated  laws  of  Solon,  that  the  Roman  legis- 
lators might  be  able  to  form  their  laws 
after  that  great  model.  The  names  of  the  three  ambas- 
sadors are  given  by  Livy,  as  well  as  that  of  a  Greek 
philosopher  who  accompanied  them  and  assisted  them 
in  their  task.  Upon  their  return  they  made  their  report, 
and  the  services  of  the  Greek  philosopher  were  rated  so 
high  that  a  statue  was  erected  in  his  honour  in  the 
Roman  Forum. 

In  spite  of  the  apparent  evidence  which  may  seem  to 
be  contained  in  the  erection  of  this  statue,  we  can  have 
no  hesitation  in  declaring  the  whole  story  of  the  Greek 
embassy  a  fiction,  for  the  following  reasons: 

No  nation  of  antiquity  ever  dreamt  of  forming  its 
civil  law  after  a  foreign  model.  Least  of  all  would  the 
Romans  have  done  so,  who,  if  they  were  original  in 
anything,  were  original  in  their  system  of  civil  law 
and  distinguished  by  their  contempt  for  foreign  institu- 
tions. 

If  this  were  not  so,  we  should  be  able  to  discover  some 
such  resembl.mce  between  the  Solonian  and  Roman 
laws  as  would  be  evidence  of  the  derivation  of  the  latter 
from  the  former.  No  such  resemblance  exists.  Nor  is 
it  possible  to  conceive  that  Roman  ambassadors  could 
have  gone  to  Athens  to  study  the  laws  of  Solon,  for  at 
Reasons  for  ^^^  iw^^^  of  the  dccemvirs  these  laws  were 
rejecting  no  longer  in  force,  but  had  been  supplanted 

this  story.  .     . 

by  the  democratic  mstitutions  of  Kleisthenes. 


CH.  XVIII.  Dccemviral  Legislation.  171 

Apart  from  the  reasons  just  urged,  the  Romans  at 
the  period  of  the  decemvirs,  in  the  middle  of  the  fifth 
century  before  Christ,  if  they  had  ever  heard  the  name 
of  Solon  or  of  Athens,  were  probably  very  far  from  such 
a  general  acquaintance  with  Greece  as  is  implied  by  a 
resolution  to  take  Greek  models  for  their  own  national 
legislation.  We  cannot  do  better  than  sum  up  these 
doubts  in  the  words  of  Gibbon  :  "  From  a  motive  of 
national  pride  both  Livy  and  Dionysius  are  willing  to 
believe  that  the  deputies  of  Rome  visited  Athens  under 
the  wise  and  splendid  administration  of  Pericles,  and 
the  lavvs  of  Solon  were  transfused  into  the  Twelve 
Tables.  If  such  an  embassy  had  indeed  been  received 
from  the  barbarians  of  Hesperia,  the  Roman  name 
would  have  been  familiar  to  the  Greeks  before  the 
reign  of  Alexander,  and  the  faintest  evidence  would 
have  been  explored  and  celebrated  by  the  curiosity  of 
succeeding  times.  But  the  Athenian  monuments  are 
silent ;  nor  will  it  seem  credible  that  the  patricians 
should  undertake  a  long  and  perilous  navigation  to 
copy  the  purest  model  of  a  democracy.  In  the  compa- 
rison of  the  tables  of  Solon  with  those  of  the  decemvirs 
some  casual  resemblance  may  be  found — some  rules 
which  nature  and  reason  have  revealed  to  every  society. 
But  in  all  the  great  lines  of  public  and  private  jurispru- 
dence the  legislator?  of  Rome  and  Athens  appear  to  be 
strangers  or  adverse  to  each  other." 

Having  disposed  of  the  story  of  the  Athenian  embassy, 
we  proceed  to  examine  the  narrative  of  the  decemviral 
legislation. 

In  451  B.C.  the  elections  of  decemvirs  took        The  tradi- 

tional  story 

place,  and  resulted  m  the  return  of  ten  pa-       ofthede- 
tricians.     The  plebeians  being  left  without        cemvirs. 
their  tribunes  had  to  submit  to  this  violation  of  the  recent 


172  Early  Rome.  CH.  xviii. 

agreement,  which  stipulated  for  a  mixed  commission. 
However,  the  patrician  decemvirs  discharged  their  duties 
honestly  and  almost  completed  their  task,  so  that  before 
the  end  of  the  year  ten  tables  of  the  laws  were  drawn 
up  and  approved  by  the  people. 

As  some  laws  were  still  wanting  to  complete  the  code, 
it  was  resolved  that  decemvirs  should  again  be  elected 
for  the  following  year.  Then  Appius  Claudius,  who  had 
been  the  leading  man  in  the  first  year's  commission,  and 
who  was  looked  upon  as  the  champion  of  the  aristocratic 
party,  suddenly  assumed,  it  is  said,  the  character  of  a 
friend  of  the  people,  and  secured  not  only  his  own  re- 
election but  also  the  election  of  several  plebeians  upon 
the  new  commission.  However,  when  he  and  his  col- 
leagues were  installed  in  office  they  showed  that  they 
were  the  friends  neither  of  the  patricians  nor  of  the  ple- 
beians, for  they  treated  both  with  equal  violence.  They 
appeared  in  public,  preceded  by  a  body  of  120  lictors,  and 
these  lictors  carried  not  only  the  rods,  but  also  the  axes, 
the  emblems  of  dictatorial  power.  All  freedom  was  sup- 
pressed; no  class  of  citizens  was  spared.  Not  only  were 
the  plebeians  trampled  under  foot,  but  the  most  eminent 
of  the  patricians  were  put  to  death  or  driven  into  banish- 
ment. Rome  was  like  a  city  taken  by  storm  and  sacked 
by  a  victorious  enemy. 

Thus  the  year  of  the  second  decemvirate  passed  by, 
and  yet  the  two  tables  which  were  wanted  to  complete 
the  legislation  were  not  submitted  to  the  people  for  ap- 
probation. The  decemvirs  refused  to  lay  down  their 
office,  protesting  that  they  would  first  pass  the  laws  which 
they  were  appointed  to  draw  up.  The  senate  in  vain 
urged  them  to  retire  ;  the  people  became  discontented, 
the  army  mutinous;  yet  the  decemvirs  clung  to  their 
office,  thus  violating  the  fundamental  law  of  the  republic, 


CH   XVIII.  Deceinviral  Legislation.  173 

which  required  every  magistrate  to  resign  at  the  expira- 
tion of  the  period  for  which  he  was  elected. 

The  general  disaffection  was  brought  to  a  crisis  by  an 
outrage  committed  on  female  chastity  by  Appius  Clau- 
dius himself.  In  the  blindness  of  his  passion  for  a 
beautiful  girl,  the  daughter  of  Virgyiius,  a  brave  ple- 
beian centurion,  he  instigated  one  of  his  clients  to  claim 
her  as  his  slave,  under  the  pretext  that  she  was  the 
daughter  of  a  slave  woman  belonging  to  him.  The  girl 
was  brought  before  the  judgment  seat  of  Appius,  and  he, 
contrary  to  a  clear  provision  of  the  law  sanctioned  by 
himself,  decided  that  pending  the  investigation  she 
should  be  considered  not  as  a  free  woman,  but  as  a 
slave,  and  handed  over  to  the  keeping  of  the  claimant. 
With  difficulty  the  friends  of  Virginia  obtained  a  respite 
for  her,  until  her  father  should  appear,  to  produce  the 
evidence  in  favour  of  his  daughter's  legitimate  birth. 
On  the  following  day  the  case  was  proceeded  with ;  and 
when  Virginius  saw  that  all  his  arguments  and  entreaties 
were  of  no  avail  to  save  his  child  from  shame,  he  stabbed 
her  to  death  with  his  own  hand. 

This  deed  was  the  signal  for  a  general  insurrection. 
The  people,  a  second  time  in  arms,  seceded  to  the  Sacred 
Mount,  threatening  to  abandon  Rome  and  to  form  a 
separate  community.  The  senate  and  the  patricians, 
left  behind  in  Rome,  at  last  compelled  the  decemvirs  to 
resign,  and  then  restored  the  consular  government. 
Thus  they  induced  the  commons  to  return  after  the  re- 
enactment  of  the  sacred  laws  and  the  re-establishment 
of  the  tribuneship.  The  decemvirs  were  punished  with 
exile.  Appius  Claudius,  reserved  in  prison  for  a  severer 
punishment,  put  an  end  to  his  own  life. 

Thus  runs  the  wonderful  story  of  the  downfall  of  the 
decemvirs.     It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  it  cannot 


174  Early  Rome.  ch.  xviii. 

be  true.  The  sudden  change  in  the  char- 
Criticism  of  acter  of  Appius  Claudius,  however  strange, 
is  perhaps  possible  ;  but  what  shall  we  think 
of  the  policy  ascribed  to  the  decemvirs,  which  was  hos- 
tile to  both  parties  in  the  state  at  once,  and  seems  to 
have  rested  on  no  support  save  that  of  their  120  lictors  ? 
Surely  the  Roman  plebs,  united  in  common  interests 
with  the  patricians,  were  not  obliged  to  have  recourse  to 
such  a  violent  measure  as  a  secession  in  order  to  get  rid 
of  a  few  magistrates.  That  secession  of  the  plebs,  which 
is  undoubtedly  historical,  can  have  been  directed  only 
against  the  patricians  as  a  body,  and  its  object  must 
have  been  to  protect  plebeian  rights  endangered  by  the 
patricians.  Now,  as  we  are  informed  that  after  the 
secession  the  office  of  tribunes  was  restored  along  with 
all  the  rights  granted  at  the  first  secession,  it  seems  a 
natural  conclusion  that  the  patricians  had  intended 
altogether  to  suppress  the  tribuneship,  which  had  only 
been  suspended  during  the  decemvirate.  Perhaps  the 
patricians  argued  that  now,  after  the  decemviral  legisla- 
tion, the  plebeian  tribunes  were  no  longer  wanted,  as  the 
law  itself  would  henceforth  protect  the  plebeians.  But 
the  plebeians  insisted  on  the  restoration  of  the  sacred 
laws,  and  they  obtained  it. 

A  strong  argument  for  the  view  we  have  taken  of  the 
second  secession  lies  in  the  character  of  the  laws,  con- 
tained in  the  last  two  tables.     These  laws 
the^lasriwo       are  universally  described  as  unjust  to  the 
tables.  plebeians,  and  they  contained  the  prohibi- 

tion of  marriages  between  the  two  orders  of  citizens,  a 
prohibition  which  was  really  a  badge  of  servitude  and 
a  remnant  of  the  old  inequality  of  patricians  and  plebe- 
ians. It  ought  not  to  have  been  received  into  the  new 
code  and  could  not  have  been  sanctioned,  as  is  alleged, 


CH.  XVIII.  Deceinviral  Legislation.  175 

by  men  who,  like  Appius  Claudius  and  the  second  de- 
cemvirs, favoured  the  plebeians.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  patricians,  who  made  peace  with  the  plebeians,  did 
not  repeal  this  obnoxious  law.  If  they  had  been  the 
real  friends  of  the  people,  they  could  not  have  shown 
this  in  a  more  signal  manner  than  by  condemning  a  law 
so  unpopular.  As  they  did  not  do  so,  we  may  infer  that 
they  intentionally  upheld  that  law ;  and  we  are  only 
going  one  step  further  if  we  surmise  that  they  introduced 
it  into  the  code  in  opposition  to  the  policy  of  Appius 
Claudius.  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  a  statement 
of  Diodorus,  who  says  that  the  last  two  tables  of  laws 
were  added  by  the  consuls  Valerius  and  Horatius,  who 
succeeded  the  decemvirs. 

The  result  of  these  considerations  is  that  in  all  proba- 
bility the  second  decemvirs  were  opposed  to  the  policy 
of  the  extreme  patrician  party,  that  they  in- 
tended to  carry  out  that  equalization  of  the    Probable 

•'  ^  causes  of  the 

laws  which  was  the  object  of  the  Terentilian    overthrow  of 

T-,  ■  ,         .        ,  .  ,  ,  the  decemvirs. 

Rogation  ;  that  m  this  endeavour  they  were 
thwarted  by  the  senate,  which  compelled  them  to  resign 
before  the  last  two  tables  were  sanctioned  ;  that  the 
senate  then  embodied  in  the  last  two  tables  those  old 
prohibitions  of  intermarriage  between  patricians  and 
plebeians  which  were  so  offensive  to  the  latter,  and  tried 
to  restore  the  old  consular  government  without  the  tri- 
buneship  of  the  people  ;  that  thereupon  the  plebeians 
had  recourse  to  a  secession,  and  did  not  return  until  the 
sacred  laws  and  the  tribuneship  had  been  restored  to 
them.  All  the  stories  of  violence  and  cruelty  ascribed 
to  the  decemvirs  must  be  regarded  as  fictitious  and  as 
invented  from  the  same  motive  of  blackening  the  char- 
acter of  popular  leaders,  to  which  are  to  be  ascribed  sim- 
ilar charges  brouL'ht  against  Spurius  Cassius,  Marcus 
Manlius,  and  even  Caius  Gracchus. 


176  Early  Rome.  CH.  xix. 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

EXTENSION   OF   PLEBEIAN   RIGHTS   FROM   449  TO  39O  B.C. 

The  laws  of  the  Twelve  Tables  were  not  intended  to  be 
a  reform  of  the  constitution.  They  referred  to  the  pri- 
vate rights  of  the  citizens  alone,  especially 
th?d?^em-  to  the  civil  law.  The  constitution  of  the 
viral  legisla-       republic  was  not  touched  by  them,  and  was 

tion  on  pub-  ^  ■' 

lie  and  pri-      left  entirely  what  it  had  been  before.     But 

vate  laws.  ,  .    ,  .  i  •    1  •    j 

the  violent  commotions  which  accompanied 
the  downfall  of  the  decemviral  legislators,  and  which  at 
one  time  threatened  a  dissolution  of  the  commonwealth, 
involved  a  formal  restoration  of  the  old  order  of  things, 
which  was  accompanied  by  a  few  slight  modifications 
and  new  legal  guarantees. 

In  the  first  place  the  annual  consulship  was  re-esta- 
blished. But  the  functions  of  treasurer  or  paymaster 
^  (quaestor),    which   had   hitherto    been   dis- 

Qusestors  ^  ^  ' 

elected  by  charged  by  a  nominee  of  the  consul,  were 

e  peop  e.  ^^^  entrusted  to  an  annual  officer,  elected 
by  popular  suffrage.  By  this  means  a  check  was  im- 
posed on  the  disposal  of  the  public  money  by  the  consul. 
The  quaestor,  though  still  acting  under  the  authority  of 
the  consul,  and  looked  upon  as  his  subordinate,  had  to 
superintend  the  military  expenditure  and  to  account  for 
the  disposal  of  booty  taken  in  war.  He  had  to  lay  his 
accounts  before  the  senate,  the  body  which  had  the 
chief  control  of  the  public  finances. 

The  consulship  was  restored  subject  to  the  old  restric- 
tions. The  right  of  appeal  from  the  consul's  decisions 
Right  of  ap-  to  ^^6  popular  assembly  was  guaranteed  by 
pea!  confirmed    a  Special  enactment,    which  provided  that 

and  extended.  '  ^ 

no  magistrate  whatever  should  be  elected 


CH.  XIX.        Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  177 

unrestrained  by  this  safeguard  of  popular  liberty.  As 
by  the  decemviral  legislation  the  private  rights  of  the 
plebeians  and  patricians  had  been  equalized,  the  right 
of  appeal  was  now  probably  extended  to  the  plebeians. 
The  tribuneship  and  sedileship  were  also  restored,  with 
their  privilege  of  inviolability  and  the  right  of  interces- 
sion. Special  precautions  were  taken  to 
secure  the  uninterrupted  succession  of  tri-    Restoration  of 

^  the  tribune- 

bunes,  so  that  the  people  might  never  be  in   ship  and 

c  .-i      .     ,  ,  aedileship. 

want  of  their  legal  protectors. 

Finally,  a   law    passed   by  the  consuls  Valerius    and 
Horatius  acknowledged  the  plebeian  assembly  of  tribes 
as  a  sovereign  assembly  of  the  Roman  peo- 
ple.    It  laid  down  the  rule  "  that  the  whole    Sovereignty  of 

■L  the  assembly 

Roman  people  should  be  legally  bound  by  of  tribe?  ac- 
the  decisions  of  the  tribes."  Whether  this  ^^^  ^  ^^ 
important  law  was  an  enactment  entirely  new  in  sub- 
stance, or  only  for  the  formal  acknowledgment  of  an 
existing  plebeian  right,  and  as  such  a  part  of  the  general 
restoration  of  the  old  constitution,  we  are  not  informed. 
The  latter,  however,  seems  the  most  probable  hypothesis, 
for  in  reality  the  plebeians  must  have  been  acknowledged 
as  possessing  the  right  of  "  legally  binding  the  whole 
Roman  people"  by  their  decisions  from  the  moment 
when  the  tribunes  elected  by  them  were  invested  with 
a  public  authority,  to  which  the  consuls  themselves  had 
to  bow.  The  legislative  sovereignty  of  the  plebeian 
tribes  was  now  extended  more  and  more.  It  superseded 
gradually  the  legislation  of  the  older  comitia  centuriata, 
which  preserved  only  their  rights  of  electing  the  consuls 
and  (afterwards)  the  prsetors  and  censors,  the  right  of 
deciding  on  peace  and  war,  and  the  supreme  criminal 
legislation  in  cases  of  appeal. 

The  assembly  of  tribes,  on  the  other  hand,  became 


178  Early  Rome.  CH.  xix. 

now  the  only    engine    for   legislative  enactments,   and 

was  even  empowered  to  elect  those  inferior 

S'*^the^le"s-       magistrates    who    were     subsequently    ap- 

lative  and  pointed,     such     as    quaestors    and    aediles. 

elective  .  .  ^  . 

functions  of  Agam,  qucstions  01  toreign  as  well  as  do- 
biy  ortribes.  mestic  policy  were  henceforth  submitted  to 
the  decision  of  the  plebeian  assembly  of 
tribes  ;  so  that  the  centre  of  gravity  which  had  origi- 
nally lain  in  the  patrician  assembly  of  curies,  and  then 
in  the  mixed  assembly  of  centuries,  was  finally  shifted 
entirely  to  the  plebeian  comitia  of  tribes. 

But  this  change  was  not  effected  at  once.     It  was  the 
slow  result  of  a  gradual  abolition  of  all  political  privi- 
leges attaching  to  the  patrician  body.  When 
Slohtloli  of        ^^^  °^^  consular  constitution  was  restored, 
patrician  after  the  decemvirate,  these  privileges  still 

privileges.  .  .  ,        ,  • 

existed  entire,  though  the  time  was  come 
when  they  were  destined  to  fall  one  after  another. 

First  of  all,  the  law  against  intermarriage   between 
the  two  classes  of  citizens  was  abolished  on  the  motion 

of  a  tribune  of  the  people,  called  C.  Canu- 
Canuleian  leius  (445  B.  c).  This  law,  which  seems  to 
intermar-  havc  caused  SO  much  heartburning  and  to 

patl^^ci'Ins         tiave  been  a  bone  of  contention  in  the  sec- 
andple-  ^^^  ^.g^j.  Qf  <(\^^  deccmvirate,  was  really  no 

beians.  '  •  1  1 

advantage  to  the  patricians,  but  on  the 
contrary  a  cause  of  weakness,  as  it  prevented  the  aris- 
tocracy from  gaining  strength  by  the  infusion  of  new 
blood.  It  can  have  been  nothing  but  a  narrow-minded 
religious  scruple  which  opposed  mixed  marriages,  un- 
der the  impression  that  only  a  certain  number  of  fam- 
lies  enjoyed  that  special  favour  of  the  gods  which 
secured  divine  protection  to  the  state  administered  by 
them ;    that  they  alone   could   approach   the  gods   by 


CH.  XIX.        Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  179 

augury,  and  "  possess  the  auspicia  " — be,  as  it  were,  the 
mediators  between  gods  and  men,  a  priesthood  by 
birth,  propagated  only  by  purity  of  blood  and  inter- 
marriage among  themselves  alone.  How  much  these 
religious  scruples  were  affected  and  supported  by  self- 
interest,  we  have  no  external  evidence  to  decide.  But 
it  is  not  at  all  improbable  that  they  were  strengthened 
by  the  fact  that  political  power  and  material  advantages 
were  bound  up  with  the  exclusive  religious  sanctity 
claimed  by  the  patrician  houses 

This  exclusive  possession  of  political  power  by  the 
patricians  was  the  tower  of  strength  against  which  the 
plebeians  henceforth  directed  their  attacks.     Hitherto, 
as  we  have  seen,  they  had  only  claimed  equality  of  pri- 
vate   rights    and    protection    from   wrong.      They   had 
obtained  the  latter  in  their  tribunes,  and  the  former  in 
the  decemviral  legislation,  to  which  the  Canuleian  law 
of  marriage  must  be  looked  upon  as  an  appendix.     In 
the  very  same  year  (445  B.  c.)  the  tribunes 
brought  in  a  bill  to  sanction  the  election  of       fofa^share 
plebeian   consuls.     The  patricians  resisted      intheexecu- 
with    all  their  might,   but   they  were  only 
able  to  alter  the  form  and  not  the  substance  of  the  pro- 
posal.     They  objected   to    plebeian    consuls,  but   con- 
sented to  the  election  of  chief  magistrates      _, 

°  The  office  of 

"  with  consular  power,"  to  be  called  "  mili-  military  m- 
tary  tribunes,"  three  in  number,  gind  eligi-  consular 
ble  promiscuously  from  the  two  orders  of  po^er. 
citizens.  What  they  proposed  to  gain,  or  did  gain,  by 
this  change  in  the  title  is  not  quite  clear.  They  cannot 
have  been  so  childish  as  to  fight  a  political  battle  for  a 
mere  name.  It  is  probable  that  the  military  tribunes 
were  considered  as,  in  rank,  inferior  to  the  consuls,  and 
that  they  lacked  some  of  the  attributes  and  rights  which 


i8o  Early  Rome.  ch.  xix. 

the  consuls  possessed.  At  the  same  time,  the  increase 
in  the  number  of  chief  magistrates  imphes  that  one  of 
the  three  was  intended  to  discharge  the  duties  of  chief 
judge,  for  which  afterwards  a  praetor  was  elected,  and 
that  the  patricians  reserved  to  themselves  the  right  of 
filling  this  office  with  one  of  their  own  number.  The 
other  two  military  tribunes,  whose  principal  duty  was 
the  command  of  the  army,  were  to  be  elected  indiscrim- 
inately from  patricians  and  plebeians,  and  the  impor- 
tant reservation  was  made  that  the  government  of  the 
republic  should  be  entrusted  to  consuls  whenever  the 
senate  should  deem  it  advisable.  The  consuls  of  course 
could  be  taken  from  the  patrician  body  alone,  and  it 
was  therefore  left  to  the  decision  of  the  senate  whether 
the  new  law  was  to  be  applied  or  not. 

Even  with  these  restrictions  and  modifications  the 
apparent  gain  of  the  plebeians  was  very  important.  But 
unfortunately  for  them  their  opponents  did  not  act  with 
good  faith  and  succeeded  in  making  their  concessions 
almost  nugatory. 

As  the  law  now  stood,  the  pohcy  of  the  patricians  was 

directed  to  two  points ;  first,  to  obtain  a  decree  of  the 

senate  for  the  election   of  consuls,   and   if 

t^°J'pItd-  this  could  not  be  carried,  to  make  such  good 

cians  to  ^gg  q{  their  influence  in  the  comitia  of  cen- 

make  the 

laws  nuga-        tunes  as  to  secure  the  election  of  patricians 
for  the  office  of  military  tribunes,  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  plebeians. 

For  a  considerable  time  the  patricians  were  entirely 
successful.  During  the  period  between  444  b.  c.  and  409 
B.  c, — that  is,  for  thirty-five  years — they  managed  to  pre- 
vent the  election  of  military  tribunes  and  to  substitute 
Lonsuls  no  less  than  twenty  times ;  and  up  to  the  year 
400  r-.   c.  i.  e.  for  twenty-three  years — in  which  they  were 


CH.  XIX.        Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  i8i 

compelled  to  yield  to  the  demands  of  the  plebeians  and 
to  allow  the  election  of  military  tribunes  instead  of  con- 
suls,  they  frustrated  the  success  of  plebeian  candidates. 
For  nearly  half  a  century  therefore— z.  e.  from  445  to  400 
— the  victory  which  the  plebeians  had  gained  turned  out 
to  be  really  barren  of  results.  Whether  consuls  01 
military  tribunes  directed  the  government,  they  were 
always  taken  from  the  patrician  order,  although  the  law 
sanctioned  the  election  of  plebeians  at  least  for  one  ot 
these  offices. 

The  explanation  of  this  curious  circumstance  seems 
at  first  sight  very  difficult.  How  could  the  plebeians  rest 
satisfied  with  an  apparent  victory,  with  a 
mere  change  in  the  law,  without  following  tionofthis 
it  up  practically  by  enforcing  the  law?  If  result, 
they  were  strong  enough  to  compel  their  opponents  to 
surrender  a  privilege  after  a  stubborn  contest,  could  they 
lack  the  strength  to  appropriate  the  spoils  ?  The  truth 
seems  to  be,  that  a  reaction  took  place  after  the  great 
constitutional  struggle  in  the  time  of  the  decemvirate, 
and  that  the  equalization  and  codification  of  the  law 
which  were  effected  at  that  period  removed  many  of  the 
grievances  of  the  plebeian  body.  Moreover,  the  party 
in  possession  of  the  government,  with  all  the  influence 
of  nobility,  wealth,  political  experience  and  organization, 
was  not  easily  beaten  at  elections  if  it  chose  to  exert  the 
whole  of  its  power.  This  the  Roman  patricians  were 
determined  to  do.  In  the  senate  they  were  all-powerful; 
in  fact,  the  senate  was  as  yet  unpolluted  by  plebeian 
members.  In  the  comitia  centuriata  they  must  have 
possessed  a  working  majority  either  by  their  own  votes 
or  by  the  votes  of  their  dependents  and  adherents.  If 
these  could  not  be  trusted,  the  patricians  had  it  in  their 
power   to    influence  the  clertions    through    a   presiding 


1 82  Early  Rom-.  .  CH.  xix. 

magistrate  of  their  own  order,  who  might  refuse  to  ac- 
cept votes  for  an  opposition  candidate,  or  might  adjourn 
the  election,  if  he  feared  it  would  go  against  his  party. 
He  might  even  refuse  to  declare  a  plebeian  duly  elected, 
on  the  pretext  of  some  irregularity.  The  auspices  might 
be  made  use  of  as  a  political  weapon  ;  the  gods  might 
declare,  through  the  mouth  of  a  patrician  augur,  that 
they  were  not  satisfied  with  the  result  of  an  election  ; 
the  senate  might  withhold  the  "  patrum  auctoritas  ; ''  or, 
finally,  the  patrician  comitia  curiata  might  object  to  con- 
fer upon  a  plebeian  magistrate  the  "  imperium,"  without 
which  he  could  not  lawfully  take  the  command  of  the 
army.  Such  a  copious  store  of  political  weapons  ex- 
plains sufficiently  the  continued  ascendency  of  the  patri- 
cian body,  in  spite  of  the  temporary  success  gained  by 
the  plebeians  at  a  time  of  great  political  excitement. 

Nevertheless,  there  are  indications  of  very  severe 
struggles  during  this  period.  It  seems  that  the  patri- 
cians did  not  scruple  to  resort  to  violent  measures  when 
opposed  by  plebeian  candidates  of  more  than  average 
ability  or  determination.  On  such  occasions  they  did 
not  shrink  even  from  murder,  as  we  learn  from  the  fate 
of  Spurius  Maelius. 

Ten  years  after  the  decemvirate  (439  B.C.)  dearth  and 
famine  desolated  the  land.  The  people  suffered  griev- 
ously, though  a  special  commissioner  of 
Spurius  markets  [prafectus  annoncs)  was  appointed 

to  buy  up  corn  for  the  supply  of  the  people. 
In  this  emergency  Spurius  Maelius,  a  rich  plebeian,  came 
forward  as  a  benefactor  of  the  poor,  distributed  corn 
gratis,  or  at  very  low  prices,  and  made  himself  so  popu- 
lar that  the  people  appeared  inclined  to  raise  him  to  the 
consulship  if  he  desired  that  honour.  The  patricians 
suspected  him  of  even  greater  ambition  ;  at  least  they 


CH.  XIX.       Exfension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  183 

pretended  to  fear  that  he  was  planning  the  overthrow 
of  the  repubhc  and  the  estabhshment  of  a  monarchy. 
Upon  information  given  by  the  commissioner  of  mar- 
kets, that  secret  meetings  were  held  at  the  house  of 
Mselius,  and  that  arms  were  being  collected,  a  dictator 
was  appointed,  as  in  times  of  imminent  danger,  to  save 
the  republic.  Cincinnatus,  the  conqueror  of  the  Aequi- 
ans,  was  the  man  selected.  He  set  up  his  tribunal  in 
the  Forum,  and  sent  Servilius  Ahala,  his  master  of  the 
horse,  to  summon  Ma^lius  before  him.  Maelius,  foresee- 
ing the  danger  which  threatened  him,  implored  the  pro- 
tection of  the  people,  whereupon  Ahala  drew  a  dagger 
and  stabbed  him  to  death,  and  Cincinnatus,  as  dictator, 
justified  the  deed.  The  people  were  terrified  and  cowed 
for  the  moment,  but  they  soon  recovered  confidence,  and 
Servilius  Ahala  was  driven  into  exile  and  his  property 
confiscated. 

The  violent  proceeding  against  such  a  popular  man  as 
Spurius  Maelius  was  perhaps  not  isolated.  It  shows  that 
party  spirit  ran  high  in  Rome  at  this  time,  and  that  the 
patricians  were  still  strong  enough  to  thwart  the  endea- 
vours of  the  plebeians  and  to  keep  them  out  of  offices 
which  they  had  a  legal  right  to  hold. 

Meanwhile,  an  important  modification  was  made  in 
the  organization  of  the  government  by  the  ^j^^  censor- 
creation  of  the  censorship  in  443  b.  c.  ^hip. 

From  the  first  establishment  of  the  comitia  centuriata 
it  had  been  necessary  to  classify  the  citizens  of  Rome 
according  to  their  property.  The  assessments  necessary 
for  this  purpose  were  made  by  the  chief  magistrates 
from  time  to  time,  as  necessity  or  expediency  seemed  to 
require.  It  is  probable  that  these  duties  were  imper- 
fectly discharged  by  the  consuls,  who  had  so  much  other 
work  on  hand,  and  that  the  census,  which  oug-ht  to  have 


184  Early  Rome.  CH.  xix 

taken  place  at  regular  periods  was  often  postponed  under 
the  pressure  of  war  or  internal  disputes.  It  was  but 
natural  that  with  an  increasing  tendency  to  organize  the 
different  branches  of  the  administration  as  separate 
magistracies,  the  duties  of  the  censorship  should  at  last 
be  assigned  to  an  officer  elected  for  that  special  purpose, 
just  as  the  quasstorship  and  afterwards  the  praetorship 
were  estabhshed  as  distinct  from  the  consulship.  The 
establishment  of  the  censorship  in  443  b.  c.  is  only  one 
feature  of  that  general  tendency  to  multiply  magistracies 
by  which  the  simplicity  of  the  original  republic  was  ex- 
panded into  the  elaborate  organization  of  a  more  ad- 
vanced period.  Why  the  year  443  was  chosen  for  the 
creation  of  the  censorship  is  not  recorded  ;  but  probably 
we  shall  not  err  if  we  look  upon  the  reform  as  a  result  of 
the  changes  consequent  upon  the  decemviral  legislation, 
and,  in  particular,  of  the  law  which  substituted  mihtary 
tribunes,  eligible  from  patricians  and  plebeians  alike,  foi 
the  original  patrician  consuls.  The  patricians  naturally 
wished  to  keep  the  management  of  public  affairs  as 
much  as  possible  in  their  own  hands,  and  they  reserved 
to  their  own  order  the  eligibility  to  the  new  office  of 
censor.  They  succeeded  in  keeping  exclusive  posses- 
sion of  it  for  nearly  100  years.  In  351  B.  c.  the  first  ple- 
beian censor  was  elected,  and  not  until  339  b.  c.  was  a 
formal  law  passed  to  secure  the  regular  election  of  one 
plebeian  to  the  office. 

In  creating  the  new  office  of  censors  the  Romans  fol- 
lowed the  practice  established  for  the  consuls  and 
quaestors,  of  electing  not  one,  but  two  magistrates  to  act 
as  colleagues.  The  motive  must  have  been  as  in  the 
T^      .        -       older  cases — the  wish  to  allow  one   censor- 

Duration  of 

the  office  of       bv  his  intercession,  to  control  the  action  of 

censors.  ,  ,  .  ,.._,, 

the  otiier,  a  motive  amply  justined  bv  expe- 


citizen  whose  name  was  not  on  their  hsts,     the  power 
and  the  constitutional  privileges  possessed    of  the  censors 


CH.  XIX.       Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  185 

rience.  As  a  census  could  not  be  taken  every  year,  the 
censorship  differed  from  the  other  republican  offices  in 
point  of  duration.  It  was  made  to  extend  over  five  years  ; 
the  intention  being  that  once  in  that  period,  which,  from 
the  religious  ceremony  of  lustration  (/.  e.  purification)  of 
the  people,  the  Romans  called  a  histruin,  a  new  valuation 
of  property  should  take  place,  and  that  every  Roman 
citizen  should  have  the  place  assigned  according  to  which 
he  had  to  vote  and  to  contribute  to  the  burdens  of  the  state. 
The  lists  of  citizens  drawn  up  by  the  censors  thus  be- 
came the  authentic  registers  recognized  by  the  state. 
No  man  could  claim  the  rights  of  a  Roman 

Extent  of 
e  po\ 
the  I 
in  drawing  up 

by  Roman  magistrates  were  such    that  on     theiist  ofciti- 

,  .  ^     ,  ,  zens. 

the  occasion  of  the  census  the  censors,  act- 
ing with  a  discretion  almost  despotic,  were  allowed  to 
transfer  citizens  to  other  classes  or  tribes,  or  even  to  ex- 
clude them  altogether,  and  to  admit  freedmen  to  the 
rank  of  citizens, — in  fact,  to  remodel  the  community,  to 
alter  even  the  principles  on  which  the  census  was  based, 
and  thus  to  adapt  the  old  institutions  to  the  varying  con- 
ditions of  the  times.  It  was  natural  that  the  original 
sums  fixed  as  the  census  of  different  classes  should  not 
remain  a  correct  standard  for  a  long  period,  and  that 
the  mode  of  assessment  had  to  be  modified  as  the  habits 
of  life  and  the  views  held  on  the  value  of  personal  or 
real  property  were  changed.  Thus,  the  censors  were,  in 
point  of  fact,  the  agents  for  periodical  reforms,  and  pre- 
vented the  necessity  of  a  sweeping  reform  bill — such  as 
that  which  was  passed  in  England  in  1832  to  reconcile 
the  principle  of  representation  w^hich  suited  the  fifteenth 
century  to  the  altered  economical  and  social  conditions 
of  the  nineteenth. 


1 86  Early  Rome.  ch.  xix. 

But  the  censors  were  not  confined  to  drawing  up  the 
lists  of  private  citizens  alone.     A  duty,  if  not  more  im- 
portant, certainly  more  calculated  to  give  them  weight 
with  the  nobility,  was  the  periodical  renewal 
Nomination       Qf  j-j^g  senate.     The  members  of  that  body, 

of  senators 

as  we  have  seen,  were  not  elected  by  the 
people,  like  those  of  the  House  of  Commons,  nor  were 
they  hereditary,  like  those  of  the  House  of  Lords  ;  they 
were  nominated  by  the  executive,  /.  e.,  by  the  kings  in 
that  early  period  which  we  call  regal,  and  by  the  con- 
suls after  the  establishment  of  the  republic.  Upon  the 
establishment  of  the  censorship  this  nomination  was 
made  to  devolve  on  the  censors.  They  had  to  draw  up 
a  list  of  the  senators,  and  it  was  left  to  their  discretion 
to  add  new  members  in  the  place  of  those  deceased, 
and  also  to  strike  out  the  names  of  men  whom  they 
considered  unworthy  of  the  great  honour  and  responsi- 
bility of  a  seat  in  that  august  assembly.  As  a  rule  the 
senators  were  nominated  for  life  ;  but  the  law,  by 
sanctioning  a  periodical  revision  of  the  senatorial  list, 
enabled  the  censors  to  exclude  men  notoriously  un- 
worthy. If  this  important  duty  had  been  exercised  in  a 
reckless  party  spirit,  so  that  the  censors  had  ejected  the 
members  of  what  we  should  call  the  Opposition,  the 
'Roman  senate  would  inevitably  have  lost  that  charac- 
ter of  a  fixed  and  settled  institution  which  enabled  it 
in  the  good  old  times  to  control  all  parties  and  to  direct 
the  public  policy  with  a  view  only  to  the  national  inter- 
est. Every  election  of  censors  would  have  become  a 
test  of  the  strength  of  parties,  and  the  victorious  party 
would  each  time  have  excluded  its  opponents  from  a 
share  in  the  government.  A  periodical  oscillation 
would  have  been  the  result  in  the  policy  of  Rome,  such 
as   we    are    accustomed    to    see    in    modern    constitu' 


CH.  XIX.       Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  187 

tional  governments.  But  the  evils  of  such  an  oscillation 
would  have  been  much  greater  in  Rome  than  they  are 
in  a  state  where  the  crown  represents  the  permanent 
national  interests,  which  are  above  the  interests  of  con- 
flicting parties. 

Besides  the  general  list  of  Roman  citizens  and  the 
list  of  senators,  the  censors  had  to  draw  up  a  list  of  the 
knights.  The  centuries  of  knights  formed 
a  part  of  that  organization  known  as  the  theTen"  ° 
constitution  of  centuries,  generally  attri-  'unrh^^ 
buted  to  Servius  Tullius.  Originally,  the 
centuries  of  knights  or  horsemen,  eighteen  in  number, 
were  intended  to  contain  the  young  men  fit  for  cavalry 
service  in  the  army,  and  the  cavalry  of  the  legions  con- 
tinued to  be  made  up  chiefly  of  the  men  thus  selected 
by  the  censors.  But  as  the  assembly  of  the  centuries 
gradually  lost  its  military  character  and  became  a 
purely  political  body,  the  centuries  of  knights  assumed 
more  and  more  the  character  of  a  select  body  of  citi- 
zens, distinct  from  the  great  mass  by  wealth  and  con- 
nection. Knighthood  began  to  be  looked  upon  as  a 
preliminary  stage  to  the  senatorial  rank  and  as  consti- 
tuting an  intermediate  class.  It  comprised  the  young 
men  of  the  noble  houses,  though,  as  far  as  we  know,  no 
property  qualification  was  exacted  for  membership  be- 
fore the  time  of  the  Gracchi.  It  was  more  and  more 
considered  an  honour  to  belong  to  the  centuries  of 
knights;  and  as  they  counted  eighteen  votes  in  the 
centuriate  assembly,  and  also  enjoyed  the  right  of  vo- 
ting before  the  others,  they  possessed  great  influence. 
Hence,  older  men  who  had  served  their  time  in  the 
army,  and  even  senators,  found  it  desirable  to  retain  their 
votes  in  the  centuries  of  knights,  and  the  censorial  discre- 
tion in  drawing  up  these  lists  was  one  of  great  importance. 


1 88  Early  Rome.  ch.  xix. 

From  the  exercise  of  these  rights  the  censors  acquired 
in  course  of  time  a  power  much  coveted  and  highly 
valued— the  power  of  sitting  in  judgment 
ship  of'"^'^'^'  on  the  civic  virtue  of  all  Roman  citizens,  of 
morals.  punishing    misconduct   by    exclusion    from 

public  rights  and  honours.  They  acquired  what  was 
called  the  cetisura  inorwn,  the  censorship  of  morals, 
which  supplied  a  defect  in  the  code  of  laws,  and  in  that 
code  of  public  decency  and  social  propriety  which  in 
our  own  time  is  successfully  enforced  by  public  opinion, 
aided  by  the  press.  As  the  full  exercise  of  this  moral 
judicature  of  the  censors  belongs  to  a  later  period,  we 
need  not  here  dwell  upon  it  any  longer. 

In  the  censorial   functions  of  classifying  the  citizens 

according  to  their  property  was  contained  the  germ  of 

.  ,    ,      their  financial   duties.      They  obtained  in 

Financial    du-  ,      r  %  -i  i-       • 

ties  of  the  course  of  time  the  control  of  the  public  m- 
come  and  expenditure,  especially  with  re- 
gard to  the  revenue  from  domain  lands  and  to  the  out- 
lay on  public  works.  The  full  development  of  these 
financial  duties,  however,  belongs  to  a  later  period. 

When  the  censorship  had  been  tried  for  two  lustral 

periods  it  was  found  necessary,  in  434  B.C.,  to  modify 

the  tenure  of  office  and  to  limit  its  duration 

Limitation  of    |-q   ^^^  yg^j.  ^nd  a  half;  but  probably  the 

the  censorship  -^  _  '  ^  _ 

to  eighteen        motive  for  this  change  was  not  the  wish  to 

months.  ,..,,..  ■,  \        •  t 

limit  the  legitimate  power  and  authority  of 
the  office.  It  is  quite  evident  that  such  a  process  as  a 
census  ought  always  to  be  accomplished  in  the  shortest 
possible  period.  If  the  censors  took  full  five  years  be- 
fore they  completed  their  lists  of  citizens,  knights,  and 
senators,  and  assessed  the  property  of  each,  they  not 
only  held  the  whole  community  in  suspense  for  all  this 
long  period  and  thereby  produced  a  feeling  of  insecurity, 


CH.  XIX.       Extension  of  Plebeian  Rights.  189 

but  they  ran  the  risk  of  publishing  statistical  data  not  in 
accordance  with  actual  facts. 

In  the  year  421  B.C.  the  principle  of  multiplying  the 
number  of  chief  magistrates,  in  the  interest  of  the  pub- 
lic service  and  in  that  of  the  plebeians,  re-    ^    ^,. 

'■  Doubling  of 

ceived  a  further  illustration  by  the  doubling  the  number  of 
of  the  number  of  quaestors.  It  was  arranged  'i"^^'®'^^- 
that  both  patricians  and  plebeians  should  be  ehgible.  No 
doubt  the  patricians  expected  to  get  their  own  candidates 
elected  as  regularly  for  this  office  as  for  the  military  tri- 
buneship.  But  in  this  expectation  they  were  deceived. 
The  election  took  place,  not  like  that  of  military  tribunes 
and  consuls  in  the  assembly  of  centuries,  but  in  that  of 
tribes,  and  in  these  the  patricians  had  not  the  same  in- 
fluence as  in  the  other  assembly.  Consequently  we  find 
that  as  early  as  410  b.  c.  three  quaestors  out  of  four 
were  plebeians. 

This  was  the  first  triumph  of  the  plebeians.     Soon  af- 
ter (in  400,  399,  and  396  b.  c.)  they  carried  the  election 
of  several  plebeian   military  tribunes,  and 
thus  for  the  first  time  realized  the  privilege    ^|fj,^g*J^"Q  ^j^ 
which  they  had  won  about  half  a  century    office  of  miii- 
before.     They  never  again  lost  the  ground 
thus  gained,  and  in  less  than  ten  years  more  (388  B.  c.) 
they   reached  at   last  the  long-desired  end  of  political 
equality,  by  the  Licinian  laws,  which  gave  them  a  share 
in  the  consulship.     However,  before  this  great  constitu- 
tional change  took  place,  the  commonwealth  of  Rome 
passed  through  a  series  of  dangers  from  foreign  enemies, 
which,  more  than  any  internal  disturbances,  threatenea 
it  with  dissolution. 


i^o  Early  Rome.  CH.  xx. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

THE    FOREIGN     RELATIONS    OF     ROME     DOWN     TO   THE 
CONQUEST   OF   VEIL 

While,  in  the  constitutional  struggles  of  the  people  of 
Rome,  political  rights  were  more  and  more  equally  dis- 
tributed among  all  her  citizens,  while  the 

The  position  ..  ,  ,  ,      , 

of  Rome  in        republic  was  bemg  consolidated,   and  the 
auum.  administration    improved    and     developed 

through  a  succession  of  reforms,  the  relations  of  Rome 
with  her  neighbours  remained  substantially  unaltered, 
and  her  influence  in  Italy  was  not  perceptibly  increased. 
She  continued  to  be  one  of  the  Latin  cities — the  largest 
of  them,  it  is  true,  and  the  most  powerful — but  still  her 
voice  was  probably  never  heard  beyond  the  confines  of 
Latium  and  the  territories  of  her  immediate  neighbours. 
All  her  energies  were  required  to  maintain  the  ground 
she  already  occupied,  and  to  ward  off  the  hereditary 
enemies  who  year  after  year  assailed  her  and  her  allies, 
and  sometimes  succeeded  in  penetrating  to  her  very 
walls. 

The  league   with    the    Latins    and    Hernicans    sub- 
sisted in  form  and  substance,  though  the  allies  of  Rome 

were  no  longer  the  unbroken  people  they 
Condition  of      \^^^  been  when  the  league  was  concluded. 

Some  of  the  Latin  cities,  such  as  Corioli,  lay 
in  ruins ;  others  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  the  Volsci- 
ans.  Tusculum  was  kept  in  a  state  of  almost  perpetual 
alarm  by  the  Aequians,  who  had  established  a  footing 
on  Mount  Algidus,  one  of  the  spurs  of  the  Alban 
Mount,  overlooking  the  plain  of  Latium  Praeneste, 
probably  the  strongest  Latin  town  after  Rome,  had  be- 


CH.  XX.  Foreign  Relations.  191 

come  virtually  an  independent  town  and  detached  from 
the  league.  It  is  clear  that  this  league  was  in  a  state  of 
gradual  dissolution,  and  that  Rome  became  more  iso- 
lated and  exposed. 

Fortunately  this  progress  of  destruction  was  arrested. 
In  the  second  half  of  the  fifth  century  (from  450  to  40a 
B.  c.)  the  attacks  of  the  Aequians  and  Vol- 
scians  became  by  degrees  feebler.  Whether         S^'^v'i°^ 
it  was  that  their  strength  was  spent,  or  that         scians  and 

,  ,  ,  ,    .         ,      .  Aequians. 

they  themselves  were  now  exposed  m  their 
rear  to  the  attack  of  a  fiercer  mountain  tribe  (the  Sam- 
nites),  Rome  and  her  allies  obtained  breathing  time; 
and  as  the  internal  dissensions  between  patricians  and 
plebeians  had  been  to  some  extent  allayed  by  the  de- 
cemviral  legislation  and  the  reforms  which  followed, 
the  attention  of  the  republic  could  be  successfully  turned 
abroad,  and  Rome  was  able  to  profit  by  the  favourable 
change. 

It  was  natural  that  the  calamities  of  war  should  press 
more  heavily  on  the  Latin  cities,  which  surrounded  Rome 
like  so  many  outlying  bulwarks,  than  on  Rome  itself. 
Had  the  tide  of  war  not  been  stemmed,  Rome  would  in 
the  end  have  been  swept  away  herself,  but  now  she  ac- 
tually profited  by  the  losses  of  her  allies ;  for  her  pre- 
ponderance increased  so  greatly  that  she 
became  in  fact  the   head   and  mistress  of        Increased 

...  preponder- 

those  who  had  previously  been  in  reality  anceof 
and  still  were  in  name  her  allies  on  equal 
terms.  It  does  not  seem  that  Rome  made  a  very  gen- 
erous use  of  this  altered  position.  At  least,  if  we  cin 
judge  of  her  general  policy  from  an  isolated  instance, 
we  shall  not  be  inclined  to  rate  the  public  morality  of 
Rome  very  high.  The  city  of  Corioli  was  one  of  those 
ancient  members  of  the  league  which  had  been  utterly 


192  Early  Rome.  CH.  xx. 

destroyed  in  the  Volscian  wars.  The  land  which  had 
formed  the  territory  of  Corioh  lay  between  the  two  cities 

of  Ardea  and  Aricia,  and  these  cities  wran- 
AcquisUion  gig(^  and  actually  fought  for  the  possession 
tory  of  of  the  deserted  land.     At  last  (in  446  b.  c.) 

they  applied  to  Rome  to  settle  the  dispute, 
and  the  result  was  that  Rome  claimed  and  occupied  the 
disputed  land  for  herself.  This  was  not  a  very  honour- 
able transaction,  and  the  Roman  historians  themselves, 
who  report  it,  seem  heartily  ashamed  of  it.  Livy  does 
not  hesitate  to  call  it  a  monument  of  public  shame.  It 
shows  what  Rome  could  now  venture  to  do  ;  and  it  is 
mteresting  to  note  that  this  acquisition  of  the  territory 
of  Corioli  was  the  first  extension  of  the  Roman  domin- 
ions, after  the  establishment  of  the  repubhc,  of  which  we 
know.  It  was  the  iniquitous  beginning  of  a  national 
policy  which  throughout  retained  the  same  character  of 
rapacity  and  bad  faith  with  which  it  was  begun. 

The  next  acquisitions  were  made  on  the  eastern  side 
of  Rome.     In  418  b.  c.  the  town  of  Labici,  which  had 

been  originally  Latin  and  a  member  of  the 

Conquest  of  i  /•    ,      ,       i    ,  r 

Labici,  Bolae,  leaGfuc,  but  which  had  been  for  some  time 
towns  in*^  i^i  the  hands  of  the  Aequians,  was  at  length 

Latium.  retaken.     The   same   success  attended  the 

Roman  arms  four  years  latter  (414  B.  c),  when  Bolae, 
a  town  still  further  east,  was  taken  from  the  Aequians. 
About  the  same  time  the  Volscians  seem  to  have  lost 
several  of  the  towns  which  they  had  previously  con- 
quered in  Latium,  and  it  is  even  related  that  a  Roman 
army  marched  southward  right  through  the  land  of  the 
Volscians,  and  took  the  maritime  town  of  Anxur,  which 
was  afterwards  called  Terracina 

Even   more  significant  than  these  signs  of  returning 
strength  in  the  wars   with   their  eastern  and  southern 


CH.  XX.  Foreign  Relations  193 

foes,  the  Aequians  and  Volscians,  was  the  spirit  shown 
by  the  Romans  in  a  conflict  which  now  broke  out  Vv'ith 
the  Etruscans,  and  which  le^,  after  a  severe  and  pro- 
tracted struggle,  to  the  first  great  conquest  of  a  large 
fortified  town  that  could  rival  Rome  itself  in  extent, 
population,  and  power — the  great  Etruscan  city  of  Veii. 
Even  before  the  important  conquest  of  Labici  had 
been  made  (418  B.C.)  the  Romans  had  succeeded  in 
clearing  away,  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Tiber, 
the  last  remnant  of  the  old  ascendency  of  f^J^"^^^  °^ 
the  Etruscans,  by  the  conquest  and  destruc- 
tion (in  426)  of  the  small  town  of  Fidense  (p.  163).  In  this 
war,  Aulus  Cornelius  Cossus,  the  Roman  master  of  the 
horse,  slew,  it  is  said,  with  his  own  hand  Lars  Tolum- 
nius,  the  Veientine  king,  who  had  come  to  the  aid  of 
Fidenae,  and,  as  was  customary  in  Rome, 
he   dedicated  the   spoils   in  the  temple   of       "^j^.^  ^^^/^'^ 

'^  ^  opnna  of 

Jupiter  Feretrius  on  the  Capitol.  The  spoils  Cornelius 
of  Lars  Tolumnius  were  the  first  spolia 
opima,  i.  e.  spoils  of  a  hostile  commander  slain  by  a 
Roman  commander,  since  Romulus  had  slain  Acron, 
the  king  of  Antemnae.  They  were  still  in  existence  in 
the  time  of  Augustus,  whose  attention  was  drawn  to 
them  when  he  caused  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius  to 
be  repaired.  We  are  told  by  Livy  that  it  was  Augustus 
himself  who  informed  him  that  the  inscription  upon  the 
coat-of-arms  of  Tolumnius  designated  Cornelius  Cossus 
as  consul,  and  not  as  master  of  the  horse.  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  if  the  said  inscription  was  genuine  and 
correctly  read,  the  war  with  Fidenae  must  have  taken 
place  not  in  426  B.C.,  when  A.  Cornelius  Cossus  was 
master  of  the  horse,  but  in  428,  when  he  was  consul. 

Whatever  we  may  think  of  the  chronological  doubts 
thus  created,  it   is  at  any  rate  certain,  that  about  this 


194  Early  Rome.  ch.  xx. 

time  Fidenae  was  taken  by  the  Romans.  It  seems  to 
have  been  utterly  destroyed,  and  it  was  never  rebuilt,  for 
in  the  age  of  Horace  and»Juvenal  Udenae  is  alluded  to 
as  the  picture  of  desolation  and  loneliness. 

The  conquest  of  Fidense  was  in  itself  important 
enough,  as  it  delivered  Rome  from  a  very  troublesome 
neighbour  in  its  immediate  vicinity.  But  it  proved  only 
the  first  step  to  a  far  more  valuable  acquisition  on  the 
side  of  Etruria. 

At  a  distance  of  about  ten  miles  to  the  north  of  Rome 
was  situated  the  large  and  powerful  city  of  Veii,  strongly 
fortified  by  nature  and  art.  Veii  was  de- 
The  city  of  cidedly  the  leading  town  in  southern  Etru- 
ria, and  probably  occupied  a  position  simi- 
lar to  that  which  Rome  held  in  Latium.  She  was  far 
superior  to  Rome  in  wealth  and  arts,  and  perhaps  not 
inferior  in  public  spirit  and  military  organization.  Her 
architects,  sculptors,  and  artizans  found  employment  in 
Rome,  and  first  familiarized  the  ruder  inhabitants  of 
Latium  with  the  more  refined  enjoyments  and  tastes  of 
civilized  life.  In  spite  of  this  peaceful  intercourse  the 
geographical  proximity  of  the  two  towns  made  a  hostile 
collision  in  the  long  run  inevitable,  and  a  serious  war 
could  end  only  in  the  destruction  of  one  of  the  two, 
since  the  difference  of  their  nationality  and  language 
made  a  peaceful  amalgamation  difficult  or  impossible. 

In  the  war  which  led  to  the  destruction  of  Fidenae  the 
Veientines,  as  we  have  seen,  had  taken  a  part.     Peace 
was  concluded  between  the  two  states,  and 
between  the    Veicntincs    seem  to   have   kept    quiet 

Rome"'^  while  Rome  secured  her  ascendency  in  Lati- 

um by  the  conquest  of  Labici  and  Bolae  and 
by  successful  wars  with  the  Volscians.  This  peace  lasted 
till  406  B.  c.     Of  the  causes  whic  li  led  to  a  renewal  oi 


CH.  XX.  Foreign  Relations.  195 

hostilities  we  know  nothing.  It  is  not  unlikely  that 
Rome  engaged  in  the  war  as  the  ally  and  protector  of 
some  of  the  towns  subject  to  Veii,  especially  Sutrium 
and  Nepete  ;  for  we  find  that  these  towns  were,  after  the 
destruction  of  Veii,  the  aUies  of  Rome,  and  it  was  quite 
consistent  with  the  spirit  of  Roman  policy  to  interfere 
in  the  internal  disputes  of  her  neighbours  and  to  act 
the  popular  part  of  the  protector  of  innocence  against 
oppression,  /.  e.  of  the  weaker  against  the  stronger,  pro- 
vided a  material  advantage  could  be  obtained. 

About  the  same  time  the  northern  towns  of  Etruria 
were  alarmed  by  the  approach  of  the  Gauls,  who  had 
recently  crossed  the  Alps,  invaded  the  north  of  Italy, 
and,  after  having  overrun  the  plain  of  the  Po,  gradually 
fought  their  way  southwards  to  the  more  genial  and  fer- 
tile regions  of  central  and  southern  Italy. 

Owing  to  this  fatal  circumstance  Veii  was  left  destitute 
of  the  support  of  her  allies  in  the  north,  and  being  thus 
isolated  offered  a  tempting  prize  to  the  cupidity  of  the 
Romans. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  origin  and  cause  of  the 
war,  the  Romans,  once  engaged  in  it,  carried  it  on  with 
a  perseverance  and  singleness  of  purpose  which  they 
had  never  shown  before  on  such  a  scale,  but  which  was 
eminently  characteristic  of  their  nation. 

Feeling  that  their  military  organization  was  deficient, 
they  set  about  reforming  it,  and  availed  themselves  of 
the  services  of  a  man,  who  rose  at  the  right 
moment  to  direct  the  energies  of  his  country-        tary  organ- 
men.     This  man  was  Marcus  Furius  Camil-        camUius^ 
lus,  a  hero  destined  to  accomplish  the  victo- 
ry over  the  mightiest  enemy  which  Rome  had  as  yet  en- 
countered, to  be  fondly   called  by  his  countrymen  the 
second  founder  of  Rome,  and  to  close  a  long  and  glori- 


igS  Early  Rome.  ch.  xx. 

ous  life  by  aiding  in  the  great  work  of  establishing  con- 
cord between  the  hostile  ranks  of  citizens. 

The  Roman  legions,  as  we  know,  did  not  consist  of 

mercenaries,  serving  for  pay,  nor  of  volunteers,  induced 

to  take  arms  by  their  own  free  patriotic  im- 

The  Roman       pulse.     They  consisted  of  citizens,  who  in 

armies.  ^  ^ 

defending  their  country  were  performing 
the  primary  and  most  important  civic  duty.  For  the 
discharge  of  this  duty  they  received  no  remuneration. 
The  burthens  connected  with  it  they  had  themselves  to 
pay  from  their  own  means.  The  richer  citizens  were 
called  upon  to  provide  themselves  with  the  more  costly 
armour  required  by  the  men  in  the  front  ranks,  and  of 
course  they  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  battle.  As  a  com- 
pe-nsation  for  these  services,  they  had  a  greater  number 
of  votes  in  the  popular  assembly.  It  was  evident  that 
with  such  a  military  organization  the  lowest  ranks  of  the 
citizens  could  not  have  been  called  upon  to  take  any 
part  in  the  national  defence,  or  else  that  their  services 
must  have  been  very  subordinate.  In  progress  of  time  the 
military  duties  were  found  to  press  too  heavily  upon  the 
rich,  and  a  more  equal  distribution  was  necessary.  The 
old  division  of  classes  and  the  old  difference  of  arms  were 
modified.  The  soldiers  of  the  legions  were  divided 
into  two  classes  only — the  heavy  armed  and  the  light- 
armed.  The  arms  were  furnished  by  the  state,  and  con- 
sequently the  comitia  of  centuries,  which  continued  to 
be  a  political  body,  ceased  to  be  a  military  organization. 
Up  to  the  Veientine  war,  however,  the  soldier  received 
no  regular  pay,  and  in  consequence  it  was  unfair  and 
impossible  to  keep  the  men  for  a  long  time  away  from 
their  domestic  pursuits,  from  their  fields  and  workshops. 
The  campaigns  could  not  be  extended  beyond  a  few 
weeks    or   months  in  summer.     No  military  operations, 


CH  XX.  Foreign  Relations.  197 

therefore,  could  be  undertaken  which  required  a  long 
period  of  service.  On  the  approach  of  winter,  if  not 
before,  the  men  had  to  be  dismissed  to  their  homes,  and 
new  armies  had  to  be  formed  on  the  return  of  spring. 
Now  such  a  procedure  might  suit  the  desukory  warfare 
which  consisted  in  making  occasional  inroads  for  the 
sake  of  plunder  ;  but  a  serious  war  with  a  powerful  state, 
especially  the  siege  of  a  large  town,  required  armies  of  a 
more  permanent  character-armies  that  were  not  dis- 
banded in  the  autumn,  or  disbanded  only  to  be  immedi- 
ately replaced  by  newly-levied  forces.  To  accomplish 
this  it  was  necessary  to  provide  the  soldiers  with  the 
means  of  bearing  the  burden  of  military  services,  and 
consequently  to  pay  them  from  the  public 
treasury.  This  was  done  in  the  last  war  tionof  miii- 
with  Veil  by  the  advice  of  Camillus.  It  was  ^^^  ^^^' 
a  measure  calculated  to  work  a  great  change  in  the  mili- 
tary system  of  the  Romans,  and  to  exercise  a  great  in- 
fluence also  on  political  affairs  and  on  the  state  of  par- 
ties. It  served  to  equalize  the  rich  and  the  poor,  and  it 
acted  therefore  as  a  powerful  stimulus  in  bringing  to  a 
final  settlement  the  long-continued  struggle  of  the  patri- 
cians and  the  plebeians. 

With  their  newly-organized  armies  the  Romans  laid 
siege  to  the  city  of  Veil  and  kept  it  blockaded  summer 
and  winter.  But  the  fortune  of  war  was  variable.  More 
than  once  the  Veientines  broke  through  the  besieging 
army  and  carried  the  war  into  the  vici- 
nity of  Rome.  We  hear  of  defeats  sus-  |'^g^  °^ 
tained  by  the  Roman  legions.  The  war 
was  protracterJ  to  the  tenth  year.  At  length  Furius 
Camillus  was  appointed  dictator,  and  he  soon  led  the 
legions  to  victory. 

That  Veii  was  taken  by  the  Romans  under  Camillus 


198  Early  Rome.  ch.  xx. 

is  a  fact  beyond  dispute.     But  the  mode  of  its  conquest 
is    hidden    in  a  cloud   of  fables.     We   are 
clptureT        told  that  in  the  course  of  the  war  the  Alban 
^^"-  lake    rose   miraculously   to    such    a   height 

that  it  threatened  to  flood  the  whole  plain  of  Latium. 
The  Romans,  looking  upon  this  phenomenon  as  a 
sign  sent  from  the  gods,  were  informed  by  an  Etrus- 
can soothsayer  and  also  by  the  Delphian  oracle,  that 
if  they  constructed  a  channel  to  draw  off  the  water 
of  the  lake  they  would  obtain  possession  of  the  hostile 
town.  They  immediately  set  to  work,  constructed  a 
channel  in  the  side  of  the  hill,  and  thus  permanently 
lowered  the  level  of  the  lake,  making  the  water  at 
the  same  time  available  for  irrigating  the  plain  below. 
While  this  work  was  in  progress  they  continued  the 
siege  of  Veil.  Here  also  they  availed  themselves  of 
tunnelling.  Camillus  caused  an  underground  passage  to 
be  constructed  from  his  camp  right  into  the  citadel  of 
Veil.  When  this  was  finished  he  caused  the  attention 
of  the  besieged  to  be  diverted  by  sham  attacks  on  the 
walls,  whilst  with  a  chosen  band  he  penetrated  through 
the  tunnel  into  the  town  and  came  out  in  the  very  temple 
of  Juno,  the  protecting  deity  of  Veii,  at  the  moment 
when  the  king  was  in  the  act  of  offering  up  sacrifice, 
and  when  the  priest  had  just  exclaimed  that  this  sacri- 
fice was  a  pledge  of  victory.  At  that  auspicious  moment 
Camillus,  we  are  told,  broke  into  the  temple,  snatched 
the  offering  from  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  flung  it  into 
the  fire  on  the  altar.  The  Romans,  issuing  from  the 
tunnel,  fell  upon  the  rear  of  the  Veientines,  opened  the 
gates,  let  in  their  comrades,  and  obtained  possession  of 
the  town.  Veii  was  taken  and  sacked.  The  people 
who  did  not  fall  in  battle  were  led  away  as  captives  and 
sold   as   slaves.     The   victorious  army   returned    laden 


CH.  XX.  Forei^Ji  Relations.  199 

with  spoils,  and  Caraillus,  mounted  on  a  car  drawn  by 
white  horses,  and  dressed  in  the  garments  of  Jupiter, 
celebrated  a  triumph  such  as  had  never  been  witnessed 
before. 

But  a  great  reverse  was  in  store  both  for  the  victorious 
leader  and  for  his  people.  In  vain  had  Camillus  in  the 
moment  of  victory  attempted  to  avert  the  jealousy  of  the 
gods  by  a  fervent  prayer  that,  if  they  thought  him  guilty 
of  overweening  pride,  they  should  inflict  a  merciful  pun- 
ishment. Whilst  he  uttered  this  prayer  he  had  his  head 
veiled,  as  was  customary,  and  turning  round  on  his  feet, 
he  stumbled  and  fell  to  the  ground.  This  sHght  mishap 
he  fondly  hoped  had  conciliated  the  gods.  But  he  soon 
found  out  his  error.  Instead  of  gratitude  he  reaped 
hatred  and  persecution.  He  was  charged  with  having 
unjustly  appropriated  a  part  of  the  spoils,  with  having 
exhibited  impious  pride  and  presumption  because  of  the 
pomp  displayed  in  his  triumph,  and  with  depriving  the 
people  of  the  fruits  of  their  victory,  by  inducing  the 
senate  to  pass  a  decree  that  the  tenth  part  of  all  the 
spoils  should  be  dedicated  as  an  offering  to  the  Delphian 
Apollo.  So  great  was  the  animosity  of  the  people  against 
him  that  he  was  compelled  to  leave  Rome  and  to  go 
into  exile. 

Such  is  the  wonderful  account  of  the  capture  of  Veil 
and  of  the  exploits  and  the  fate  of  Camillus.  That  it  is 
fictitious  in  all  its  details  needs  no  proof.  It 
was  evidently  made  up  at  a  time  when  the  [he'stor"  °^ 
actual  facts  were  forgotten,  and  it  was  made 
up  by  men  who  had  more  talent  for  dramatic  composi- 
tion than  for  historical  research — men  who  were  not 
even  familiar  with  the  laws  and  habits  of  the  Roman 
people.  The  charge,  for  instance,  that  Camillus  com- 
mitted sacrilege  by  assuming  the  garb  of  Jupiter,  when 


200  Early  Rome.  ch.  xx. 

he  entered  Rome  in  triumph,  is  utterly  futile.  We  know 
that  this  was  the  habit  of  all  the  Roman  trinmphato7'-es. 
By  personating,  as  it  were,  Jupiter,  they  were  far  from 
any  sinful  arrogance  or  impiety.  On  the  contrary,  they 
intended  thereby  to  imply  that  it  was  Jupiter  himself 
who  triumphed  over  the  enemies  of  Rome.  The  idea  of 
Veil  being  taken  by  a  tunnel,  driven  through  the  rocky 
hill  into  the  midst  of  the  town,  is  simply  ridiculous,  and 
was  perhaps  suggested  by  the  notion  that  the  channel 
for  the  water  of  the  Alban  lake  was  the  cause  of  the  fall 
of  Veii.  Whether  this  channel  was  actually  constructed 
or  only  repaired  at  that  time,  we  have  no  means  of  know- 
ing. It  certainly  did  exist,  and  exists  even  now  ;  but 
except  in  the  superstition  of  an  ignorant  age  it  could 
have  no  connection  with  the  capture  of  a  distant  town. 
The  message  to  the  oracle  of  Delphi  is  no  doubt  only  a 
late  version  of  the  older  story,  which  attributes  the  pro- 
phecy to  an  Etruscan  soothsayer;  nor  does  the  state- 
ment deserve  credit  that  the  tenth  part  of  the  Veientine 
spoils  were  sent  as  a  present  to  the  Delphian  shrine,  al- 
though it  is  adorned  with  detail  intended  to  make  it 
plausible.  At  the  period  in  question  the  Romans  had 
perhaps  not  even  heard  of  the  Delphian  Apollo,  and  cer- 
tainly never  dreamt  of  consulting  him,  nor  of  sending 
him  golden  offerings. 

Thus  nothing  can  be  really  ascertained  but  the  bare 
fact  that  in  the  year  396  b.  c.  the  city  of  Veii  was,  after 
a  protracted  siege,  taken  by  the  Romans.  We  do  not 
even  know  certainly  whether  Rome  was  aided  in  this 
magnificent  conquest  by  any  other  Etruscan  towns.  But 
as  we  hear  that  Satricum  and  Nepete,  to  the  north  of 
Veii,  were  afterwards  the  allies  of  Rome,  we  may  at  any 
rate  conjecture  that  they  had  a  part  in  the  subversion  of 
Veii.    Other  cities  of  Etruria  may  have  taken  a  part  in 


CH.  XX.  Fo?'eign  Relatio?is.  201 

the  war.  Tarquinii  and  Caere  appear  to  have  been 
neutral,  but  Capena  and  Falerii  are  mentioned  as  allies 
of  the  Veientines.  Falerii,  after  the  fall  of  Veil,  was  im- 
plicated in  hostilities  with  Rome.  A  story  better  known 
than  it  deserves  to  be  is  related  of  this  war.  Camillas,  it 
is  said,  laid  siege  to  the  town.  During  this  siege  a 
schoolmaster  of  Falerii  treacherously  delivered  into  his 
hands  a  number  of  noble  children  as  hostages,  but  was 
ignominiously  sent  back  into  the  town  to  be  punished  for 
his  intended  treason.  The  Faliscans,  overcome  not  by 
the  arms  but  by  the  generosity  of  their  foe,  surrendered. 
This  story  is  condemned  as  a  silly  fiction,  not  only  by  its 
intrinsic  improbability,  but  by  the  undoubted  fact  that 
Falerii  continued  for  a  long  time  afterwards  to  be  an  in- 
dependent town. 

The  territory  acquired  by  the  conquest  of  Veil  was 
about  equal  to  the  old  possessions  of  Rome  in  extent 
and  fertility.  It  offered  a  magnificent  field  to  Roman 
colonists  for,  according  to  the  custom  of  ancient  war- 
fare, it  was  entirely  at  the  disposal  of  the  conquerors, 
whq  could  appropriate  as  much  of  it  as  they  thought  ex- 
pedient. A  part  was  actually  distributed  in  equal  lots 
oi  sQYenJugera  to  Roman  settlers.  The  majority  of  the 
Veientine  citizens  who  were  not  killed  or  sold,  or  left  to 
till  the  soil,  were  transported  as  slaves  to  Rome,  and 
may  have  proved  a  valuable  accession  of  sicilled  work- 
men. Rome  was  evidently  on  the  road  to  a  rapid  de- 
velopment when  the  Nemesis  of  the  gods,  whom  Camil- 
lus  had  in  vain  attempted  to  propitiate,  brought  upon 
her  a  reverse  which  seemed  hardly  less  terrible  than  the 
fate  of  Veil.  Six  years  after  the  triumph  of  Camillus, 
Rome  was  a  heap  of  ruins,  and  the  Roman  people,  a 
homeless  herd  of  exiles,  were  seeking  shelter  and  refuge 
in  the  city  of  their  late  enemies. 


202  Early  Rome.  CH  xxi. 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

THE   INVASION   OF   THE   GAULS. 

The  large  and  fruitful  plain  in  the  north  of  Italy,  ex- 
tending on  both  sides  of  the  Po  from  the  Alps  to  the 
_    ,.      ,         Adriatic  and  the  Apennines,  had  been  foj 

Decline  of  '■ 

Etruscan  some  time  in  possession  of  the  Etruscans, 

P"^^""-  who  had  built  and  fortified  twelve  cities  and 

lived  in  a  sort  of  confederacy,  similar  to  that  which 
loosely  bound  together  the  towns  of  Etruria  proper. 
Long  before  the  rise  of  Rome  the  power  of  the  Etrus- 
cans was  at  its  height;  their  settlements  extended  from 
the  Alps  to  Campania,  and  their  ships  swept  the  sea, 
which  after  them  was  called  the  Tyrrhenian.  When 
Rome  rose  to  independence  and  preponderance  in  La- 
tium,  the  Etruscan  power  gradually  declined.  They 
lost  Campania  on  the  advance  of  the  Sabellian  races 
into  that  fertile  plain.  They  were  driven  out  of  Latium 
by  Rome  and  her  Latin  allies,  and  at  the  time  when 
even  the  soil  of  Etruria  proper  was  assailed  and  Veil,  the 
most  powerful  Etruscan  town  in  the  south  of  that  region, 
fell  a  prey  to  Rome,  their  settlements  in  the  north  were 
invaded  by  a  more  ruthless  conqueror,  and  all  the 
vestiges  of  Etruscan  civilization  in  that  beautiful  plain 
of  the  Po  were  stamped  out  by  the  Gauls. 

It  is  most  probable  that  the  inhabitants  of  Transalpine 

Gaul,  the  country  which  has  now  for  centuries  borne  the 

name  of  France,  had  been  accustomed  in 

Migration 

of  the  very    early    ages    to    cross    the    mountain 

ranges  which   separated  them  from    Spain 

and    Italy,    for   the   purpose    of  plunder  or  permanent 

settlements  in  the   more   southern   regions.     In    Spain 


CH.  XXI.  Invasion  of  the  Gauls.  203 

they  amalgamated  with  the  native  Iberian  tribes  and 
formed  the  mixed  race  known  as  Celtiberians.  In  Italy 
they  expelled  the  former  inhabitants  from  the  country, 
which,  after  them,  was  called  Cisalpine  Gaul.  These 
migrations  and  settlements  were  in  all  probability  not 
effected  by  one  wholesale  exodus,  but  (like  the  Teutonic 
conquest  of  Britain)  were  the  work  of  a  long  period  of 
time,  during  which  tribe  after  tribe  followed  the  impulse 
given  by  the  first  adventurers. 

At  length,    when  the    greater   part  of   Cisalpine  Gaul 
was   filled    by  the  new  comers,  the  flood  of  migration 
was  turned  southwards.     It  filled  the  plain 
between   the   Apennines    and  the  Adriatic,       sionof 
where  the  old  Umbrian  population  gave  way       Etruna. 
to   the   Gallic   Senones  ;    it  mounted    the  passes  of  the 
Apennines,  and  at  length  came  pouring  down  into  the 
fertile  valleys  of  Etruria  proper.     Five  years  after  the 
capture  of  Veil  by  Camillus,  a  barbaric  host  appeared 
before  the  city  of  Clusium,  a  few  days'   march  north  of 
Rome.     The  danger  had  approached    sufficiently  near 
to  rouse  the  attention  of  the  Romans,  even  if  they  had 
been  indifferent  to  the  fate  of  their  neighbours. 

Livy  relates  that  the  people  of  Clusium,  in  their 
extreme  danger,  sent  ambassadors  to  implore  the  aid  of 
Rome,  and  that  the  senate  despatched  three         ^         . 

^  ..  Cause  of 

men  of  the  noble  house  of  the  Fabii  to  ex-         war  with 
postulate   with   the    Gauls,   and   to    request  °'"^" 

them  not  to  molest  the  allies  of  the  Roman  people.  It  is 
further  related  that  the  Gauls,  not  heeding  the  interfe 
rence  of  a  people  of  whom  they  had  not  even  heard, 
attacked  Clusium,  and  that  the  Fabii,  forgetful  of  their 
sacred  character  of  ambassadors,  took  part  in  the  battle, 
and  fought  foremost  in  the  ranks  of  the  Etruscans  ;  that 
upon  this  breach  of  the  law  of  nations,  the  Gauls  de- 


204  Early  Rome.  ch.  xxi. 

manded  the  surrender  of  the  ambassadors,  and  when 
this  was  refused  by  the  Romans,  forthwith  abandoned 
the  prosecution  of  hostilities  against  Clusium,  and 
marched  straight  upon  Rome. 

This  story,  if  not  altogether  fictitious,  seems  dressed 
up  to  flatter  the  vanity  of  the  Roman  patriots.  The  lan- 
guage put  in  the  mouth  of  the  ambassadors  savours  of 
the  arrogance  which  at  a  later  period  dictated  the  lan- 
guage of  Roman  diplomacy,  when  the  power  of  Rome 
disdained  the  decencies  of  international  politeness,  and 
everywhere  exhibited  itself  in  its  naked  brutality.  We 
prefer,  therefore,  the  account  of  Diodorus,  who  tells  us 
that  the  Romans  did  not  send  ambassadors,  but  spies.  If 
this  account  is  more  correct,  it  follows  that  all  about  the 
participation  of  the  Fabii  in  the  fight,  and  their  distin- 
guished bravery,  about  the  offence  taken  by  the  Gauls, 
and  their  message  of  expostulation  to  Rome,  in  short, 
about  all  that  is  represented  as  a  consequence  of  the 
breach  of  international  law,  falls  to  the  ground.  Nor,  in 
truth,  is  it  necessary  to  search  for  a  particular  reason 
why  the  Gauls  should  have  marched  upon  Rome.  They 
were  on  a  plundering  expedition.  It  was  surely  a  suffi- 
cient inducement  for  them  to  attack  the  Romans,  if  they 
could  hope  to  obtain  their  ends,  and  they  were  probably 
not  too  scrupulous  in  requiring  a  legitimate  cause  for 
war. 

At  any  rate  the  Romans  were  not  taken  unawares. 
They  had  drawn  out  their  whole  strength,  and  were 
joined  by  their  allies.  Thus  they  marched 
^^"i^r^  out  40,000  strong  to  meet  the  invaders,  who 

were  advancing  70,000  strong  along  the 
left  bank  of  the  Tiber.  Near  the  small  river  Allia 
the  two  armies  met,  about  ten  miles  from  Rome,  on  the 
fatal   1 8th  of  July,  390  B.  c.     The  encounter  was  sharp, 


CH.  XXI.  Invasion  of  the  Gauls.  205 

short,  and  decisive.  The  impetuous  onset  of  the  barba- 
rians, their  wild  battle-cry,  and  their  fierce,  uncouth  ap- 
pearance dismayed  the  Romans,  who,  seized  with  a 
panic,  fled  almost  without  offering  resistance.  It  was  a 
slaughter  more  than  a  battle.  Thousands  rushed  into 
the  river  to  save  themselves  by  swimming  to  the  oppo- 
site bank,  and  many  met  their  death  in  the  waves. 
The  consular  tribune,  A.  Sulpicius,  with  a  remnant  of 
the  army,  made  good  his  retreat  to  Rome,  while  the 
greater  part  of  the  fugitives  collected  in  Veii,  the  late 
rival  of  Rome,  which,  although  overthrown,  dismantled, 
and  deserted,  was  now  the  only  place  of  refuge  for  what 
remained  of  the  Roman  legions. 

The  Roman  people  never  forgot  the  terrible  day  of 
the  Allia.  The  i8th  of  July  was  marked  as  a  black  day 
in  the  Roman  calendar,  and  was  held  unpropitious  for 
any  public  undertaking.  The  terrible  defeat  and  its 
more  terrible  consequences  made  such  an  impression  on 
the  public  mind  that  the  Gaul  was  ever  afterwards 
dreaded  as  the  most  terrible  of  enemies. 

On  the  third  day  after  the  fatal  battle  the  victorious 
barbarians  appeared  before  the  city.  The  Romans  in- 
stead of  availing  themselves  of  the  respite 
thus  given  them,  and  of  taking  measures  for  ab'a'IIdoned 
the  defence  of  the  walls,  thought  of  nothing 
but  flight.  They  poured  out  of  the  city,  carrying  with 
them  their  most  precious  and  easily  transportable  pos- 
sessions, and  sought  refuge  in  the  neighbouring  towns. 
It  is  related  that  some  of  the  sacred  objects  of  the  tem- 
ples were  secretly  buried  and  that  the  vestal  virgins, 
carrying  with  them  the  eternal  flame  from  their  sanctu- 
ary, hurried  along  with  the  crowd  across  the  wooden 
bridge  and  up  the  Janiculus,  until  a  plebeian  citizen 
bade  them  mount  a  wagon  on  which  he  was  conveying 
his  wife  and  children  from  the  general  wreck. 
p 


2o6  Early  Rome.  CH.  xxi. 

When  the  Gauls  found  the  walls  destitute  of  defenders, 
they  at  first  feared  an  ambush  and  hesitated  for  a  while 
before  breaking  open  the  gates  and  penetrating  into  the 
deserted  streets.  They  were  appalled  by  the  stillness 
which  reigned  as  in  a  city  of  the  dead.  On  advancing 
as  far  as  the  market-place  they  observed  a  number  of 
venerable  grey-bearded  men  sitting  motionless  like 
statues,  dressed  in  robes  of  office.  They  were  senators, 
who  had  determined  not  to  survive  the  downfall  of  their 
country  and  who  had  devoted  themselves  to  death.  A 
Gaul  doubtful  what  to  think  of  these  figures,  plucked 
one  by  the  beard.  A  blow  on  his  head  from  the  offended 
senator  convinced  him  that  he  had  a  living  Roman 
before  him,  and  a  general  massacre  of  all  the  devoted 
band  was  the  consequence. 

But  besides  these  few  defenceless  old  men  other 
Romans  had  stayed  behind.  The  Capitol  had  not  been 
abandoned  like  the  remainder  of  the  city. 
Defence  of  i|-  y^^iS  garrisoned  by  a  number  of  stout- 
hearted warriors,  determined  to  conquer  oi 
fall  in  the  defence  of  the  sanctuary  of  Jupiter  Capitoli- 
nus,  the  symbol  and  centre  of  the  Roman  power.  They 
repelled  an  attack  of  the  Gauls,  and  compelled  them  to 
trust  to  the  slow  effect  of  a  regular  siege,  if  they  wished 
to  reduce  the  place.  Meanwhile  the  city  was  sacked  by 
the  barbarians  and  reduced  to  ashes.  It  is  said  that 
only  a  few  houses  on  the  Palatine  escaped  the  general 
conflagration.  In  this  sad  calamity  perished  all  or 
almost  all  the  monuments  of  antiquity  and  the  records 
of  the  past. 

The  Gauls  persisted  in  pressing  the  siege  with  a  con- 
stancy hardly  natural  to  such  a  restless  and  impatient 
race.  The  garrison  on  the  Capitol  seemed  to  be  hope- 
lessly lost,  when  one  night  a  young  man,  called  Pontius 


CH  XXI.  Invasion  of  the  Gauls.  207 

Cominius,  sent  from  the  Roman  fugitives  at  Veii,  made 
his  way  by  swimming  to  a  spot  near  the  foot  of  the  capi- 
tol,  and,  frustrating  the  watchfulness  of  the  Gauls,  scaled 
the  rock  at  a  place  known  to  him  as  accessible  to  a 
nimble  climber.  He  reported  to  the  military  tribune  in 
command  that  the  Roman  force  collected 
at  Veii  were  about  to  come  to  the  rescue  of  appoiiued 
the  besieged  and  that  they  only  wanted  the  dictator. 

banished  Camillus  to  be  their  leader.  The  decree  re- 
calling Camillus  from  banishment  and  appointing  him 
dictator  was  made  immediately,  and  Cominius  hastened 
back  the  same  way  he  had  come. 

His  exploit,  however,  nearly  proved  fatal  to  the  de- 
fenders of  the  capitol.  The  Gauls  had  noticed  his 
footsteps  on  the  rock,  and  following  in  the       ^,    ^    .    . 

,  --*'.,.  The  Capitol 

same  track  succeeded  on  a  dark  night  m  saved  by  m. 
reaching  the  top  unobserved  by  the  Roman 
sentinels.  Even  the  dogs  were  remiss  in  their  watch- 
fulness. Only  the  geese,  kept  in  the  temple  of  Juno,  as 
birds  sacred  to  the  goddess,  set  up  a  loud  cackling,  and 
thus  roused  Marcus  Manlius,  one  of  the  officers  in 
charge.  He  immediately  gave  the  alarm,  and  rushing 
to  the  spot  where  the  foremost  Gauls  had  already 
reached  the  top  of  the  rock,  he  hurled  them  down  upon 
their  companions  and  thus  saved  the  citadel. 

This  danger  was  luckily  averted,  but  the  siege  con- 
tinued and  the  garrison  on  the  capitol  was  sorely 
pressed.   Provisions  began  to  fail,  as  month 

^  1111  Ransom 

alter  month  elapsed  and  no  rescue  ap-  paid  to  th© 
peared.  The  blockade  had  now  lasted  six  ^"  ^' 
months.  The  Gauls,  too,  began  to  suffer  from  want  of 
provisions.  They  were  obhged  to  detach  parts  of  their 
army  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  supplies.  One  of 
these  bodies  was  set  upon  by  the  people  of  Ardea,  under 


2o8  Early  Rome.  ch.  xxi. 

the  command  of  Camillus,  and  routed  with  great 
slaughter.  At  length,  Brennus,  the  leader  of  the  Gauls, 
was  fain  to  make  an  agreement  with  the  Romans  on  the 
Capitol,  and  to  promise  to  retire  upon  payment  of  a  sum 
of  money.  One  thousand  pounds  of  gold  was  the 
ransom  to  be  paid  by  the  Roman  people.  The  money 
was  procured  by  borrowing  the  treasures  from  the  tem- 
ples and  the  ornaments  of  the  Roman  matrons. 

When  the  Roman  commissioners  were  in  the  act  of 
paying  the  gold  to  Brennus  in  the  Forum,  just  at  the 
foot  of  the  Capitol,  and  when,  upon  their  complaints  of 
the  false  weight  used  by  the  Gauls,  Brennus  had  just 

thrown  his  sword  into  the  balance  with  the 
^fT'G°"l         insulting  words,  "  Woe  to  the  conquered  !  " 

Camillus  suddenly  appeared  on  the  spot, 
and  declaring  that  the  agreement  was  null  and  void,  be- 
cause it  had  been  concluded  without  the  dictator's 
consent,  drove  the  Gauls  off  the  Forum  and  out  of  the 
city.  On  the  next  day  he  encountered  them  outside  the 
gates,  and  routed  them  so  signally  that  not  a  man  es- 
caped. Brennus  himself  fell  under  the  sword  of  the 
conqueror,  who  shouted  into  his  ears  the  terrible  words 
he  himself  had  first  used  in  the  insolence  of  victory, 
'*  Woe  to  the  conquered  !  "  Thus  Rome  was  saved  not 
only  from  her  foes  but  also  from  the  disgrace  of  owing 
her  deliverance  to  the  payment  of  gold  rather  than  to 
the  sword;  and  Camillus  restored  to  his  country,  be- 
came the  second  founder  of  the  city. 

We  have  related  the  story  of  the  capture  and  delivery 
of  Rome  in  the  form  which  it  had  assumed  in  Livy's 

time  under  the  influence  of  patriotic  tradi- 
Criticism  of      tion.      We   need  hardly  say  that  it  is  co- 

the  story.  •'  ^ 

loured  by  national  and  family  pride,  and 
that   some  of  its   features   resemble  more   a  theatrical 


CH.  XXI.  Invasion  of  the  Gauls.  209 

catastrophe  than  sober  reality.  Fortunately  in  the 
narratives  of  Diodorus  and  Polybius  some  traces  of  an 
older  and  less  falsified  tradition  have  been  preserved, 
by  the  help  of  which  we  can  clear  away  some  at  least  of 
the  fictions  of  the  later  annahsts. 

It  is,  at  any  rate,  certain  that  the  Gauls  after  their 
victory  on  the  AUia  entered  Rome  and  destroyed  the 
city  with  the  exception  of  the  Capitol.  But 
we  may  doubt  whether  the  destruction  was  structio'n  of 
so  systematic  and  complete  as  it  is  gene-  ^'J^^et?^ 
rally  represented — whether  all  the  stone  than  re- 
buildings  and  the  walls  of  the  city  were 
pulled  down  after  the  combustible  matter  had  been 
consumed  by  the  flames.  A  regular  destruction  of  sohd 
masonry  is  a  work  of  time  and  great  labour,  such  as 
would  not  be  likely  to  be  undertaken  by  invaders  like 
the  Gauls,  who  had  no  object  in  view  but  rapine  and 
plunder.  We  know  from  Diodorus  and  Justin  that  the 
Gauls  penetrated  as  far  as  lapygia  in  the  extreme  south 
of  Italy,  and  that  some  of  them  entered  as  mercenaries 
into  the  service  of  Dionysius  of  Syracuse,  then  at  war 
with  the  Greek  towns  in  Italy.  Being  bent  on  such 
distant  enterprises,  from  which  ample  gain  and  booty 
were  to  be  expected,  how  should  they  have  been  in- 
duced to  waste  their  time  and  energy  in  pulling  down 
what  remained  of  the  houses,  temples,  monuments,  or 
walls,  after  they  had  ransacked  them  for  treasures 
and  committed  them  to  the  flames?  Besides  the  walls 
and  temples,  Rome  contained  at  that  time  very  few 
solid  structures.  The  majority  of  the  private  houses 
were  mere  straw  thatched  or  shingle-covered  huts  ;  yet 
even  among  the  private  buildings  some  may  have  been 
built  at  least  in  part  of  stone,  and  most  of  these  may 
have  survived  the  conflagration.     Thus  it  is    possible 


210  Early  Rome.  ch.  xxi. 

that  even  outside  the  Capitol  a  few  monuments  of  an- 
tiquity were  preserved,  and  that  the  ancient  records 
were  not  so  completely  destroyed  as  the  later  annahsts 
have  reported. 

We  are  the  more  fully  justified  in  adopting  this  view, 

as  we  can  hardly  believe  the  statement   that  the  Gauls 

encamped  on  the  site  of  the  ruins  of  Rome 

tion^ofThe        ^^'^  seven  months  to  press  the  siege  of  the 

blockade  Capitol.      They  could  hardly  have  done  so 

improbable,  .  ,  .  ,  ,         ^         , 

Without  exposmg  themselves  to  the  most  de- 
structive effects  of  a  climate,  not  merely  unhealthy  but 
deadly  to  a  northern  people.  In  fact,  they  would  not 
have  been  barbarians,  but  madmen,  if,  with  the  prospect 
of  a  protracted  siege  before  them,  they  had  deliberately 
destroyed  the  shelter  of  which  they  would  have  felt  such 
urgent  need.  We  refer  again  to  the  testimony  of  Diodo- 
rus  and  Justin,  who  speak  of  the  extension  of  the  Gallic 
invasion  to  southern  Italy.  With  such  a  march  south- 
wards the  blockade  of  the  Capitol  for  seven  months  is 
incompatible,  and  cannot  therefore  be  admitted  as  histo- 
rical. 

The  oldest  stories  of  the  part  played  by  Camillus  seem 
to   presuppose  that  the  Gauls  did  not  stay  a  very  long 

time  in  the  ruins  of  Rome.  They  represent 
The  story  of      Camillus  as  elected  dictator  and  as  in  com- 

Camillus.  .  ,        ,  . 

mand  of  a  Roman  force  outside  the  city. 
Surely,  they  could  not  look  upon  him  as  inactive  for 
many  months,  or  as  engaged  only  in  hovering  on  the 
outskirts  of  the  territory  occupied  by  the  invaders.  The 
story  of  Camillus  is  essentially  dramatic  in  character. 
It  brings  the  hero  on  the  scene  of  action  in  a  manner 
nothing  short  of  marvellous,  like  a  dens  ex  7nachina,  and 
it  would  not  have  resulted  to  the  honour  of  such  a  hero 
to  wait  seven  months  and  to  let  his  countrymen  undergo 


CH.  XXI.  Invasion  of  the  Gauls,  211 

the  agonies  of  despair  and  famine  before  he  came  to 
their  rescue. 

But  after  all  the  story  of  Camillus  appears  to  be  only 
a  fiction  invented  for  the  glory  of  the  Furian  house  to 
which  Camillus  belonged.     Not  to  dwell  on 

1  •  -n      •         1  i     ^1-       ^      ^-  Contradict- 

Other  pomts  we  will  simply  quote  the  testi-        ed  by 

mony  of  Polybius,  who  says  that  "  the  Gauls  Poiybius. 
withdrew  unmolested  with  their  booty,  having  volunta- 
rily and  on  their  own  terms  restored  the  town  to  the  Ro- 
mans." After  this  explicit  statement  what  becomes  of 
the  heroic  deeds  of  Camillus,  of  the  unjust  scales  with  the 
sword  of  Brennus,  and  of  his  expulsion  from  the  Forum, 
which  was  so  ignominious,  and  yet  less  ignominious 
than  wonderful  ?  It  is  clear  that  all  the  various  and 
conflicting  stories  which  relate  the  utter  discomfiture  of 
the  Gauls  and  the  recovery  of  the  booty  or  ransom,  are 
fictions  calculated  to  soothe  the  wounded  pride  of  the 
Romans  and  to  glorify  the  family  of  Camillus. 

Hardly  less  suspicious  is  the  story  of  the  Capitoline 
geese  and  of  M.  Manlius,  the  saviour  of  the  Capitol. 
They  both  belong  to  the  class  of  legends  called  setiologi- 
cal,  /.  e.  invented  to  account  for  an  existing 
custom  or  a  name  (p.  72).  The  goose  was  fh'e^'eese  a°n 
a  bird  sacred  to  Juno,  and  it  acquired  this      setioiogicai 

•'  ^  legend. 

honour  not  by  the  achievement  of  the  watch- 
ful defenders  of  the  Capitol,  for  the  fact  of  geese  being 
kept  in  the  sanctuary  of  Juno  at  the  time  of  the  siege 
shows  that  the  custom  was  older  than  that  date.  There 
was  an  annual  festival  in  honour  of  Juno,  celebrated 
with  a  public  procession,  in  which  geese  were  carried 
through  the  town  on  soft  cushions  and  festively  adorned, 
whilst  dogs  were  nailed  on  boards.  The  story  of  the 
neglect  of  the  dogs  and  the  watchfulness  of  the  geese 
was  probably  invented  to  account  for  this  ancient  cus- 


2  12  Eai'ly  Rome,  ch.  xxi. 

torn.  The  share  of  Manhus  in  the  saving  of  the  Capitol 
may  have  been  inferred  from  his  name  Capitolinus,  a 
name  derived  more  probably  from  his  residence  on  the 
Capitoline  hill. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  duration  of  the  occupa- 
tion of  Rome  by  the  Gauls,  and  however  extensive  the 
destruction  caused  by  the  invasion,  it  is  certain  that  the 
injury  done  to  the  republic  was  not  vital  On  the  con- 
trary, the  material  losses  seem  to  have  been  soon  re 
paired.  The  city  was  rebuilt  in  a  very  short  time;  the 
ascendency  of  Rome  over  her  dependent  allies,  if  it 
was  weakened  momentarily,  was  soon  fully  re  esta- 
blished, and,  what  is  more  important  than  all  this,  the 
framework  of  the  constitution  bore  the  strain  of  disas- 
trous war  without  giving  way  in  any  part.  When  the 
storm  had  passed  over  and  the  damage  which  it  had 
caused  was  repaired,  Rome  continued  her  career  of 
internal  reform  and  foreign  conquests,  not  merely  with 
unimpaired  but  with  invigorated  energy.  Only  fourteen 
years  after  the  battle  of  the  Allia,  Licinius  and  Sextius 
began  the  agitation  for  the  equal  division  of  the  consular 
power  between  patricians  and  plebeians,  which  ten  years 
later  led  to  the  Licinian  laws  (366  B.C.).  In  the  year 
387  B.C. — only  three  years  after  the  Gallic  catastrophe  — 
the  first  great  addition  was  made  to  the  Roman  territory. 
Four  new  tribes  were  formed  out  of  the  conquered 
Veientine  land  and  added  to  the  original  twenty-one 
tribes  to  which  the  republic  had  been  limited  for  120 
years.  Twenty-nine  years  later  (358  B.C.)  two  more 
tribes  were  added  from  acquisitions  in  Latium,  and  at 
the  same  time  the  league  with  the  Latins  was  renewed 
on  a  fresh  basis,  which  made  Latium  practically  a  de- 
pendency of  Rome.  A  few  years  later  (354  B.C.)  the 
spreading  influence  and  increasing  power  of  Rome  ap- 


CH.  XX r.  Invasion  by  the  Gauls.  213 

pears  in  the  conclubion  of  a  treaty  of  friendship  with  the 
great  nation  of  the  Samnites.  In  348  b.  c.  a  commercial 
treaty  was  concluded  with  Carthage,  and  in  343 — not 
half-a-century  after  the  invasion  of  the  Gauls — Rome 
was  powerful  enough  to  enter  on  that  long-continued 
struggle  with  the  Samniles  which  resulted  in  the  acqui- 
sition of  undoubted  supremacy  in  Italy.  It  may  well 
be  doubted  whether  the  Gauls  had  done  more  harm  or 
more  good  to  the  Roman  people  by  their  invasion  of 
Italy.  If  Rome  was  paralyzed  for  a  moment  by  the  blow 
on  the  Alha,  perhaps  the  neighbours  of  Rome  were 
more  vitally  injured,  and  thus  the  relative  strength  of 
Rome  increased.  Besides,  the  Gauls  were  now  looked 
upon  as  the  natural  enemies  of  all  the  native  races  of 
Italy,  and  as  they  continued  their  periodical  invasions  for 
a  considerable  time,  Rome  acquired  by  degrees  the 
position  of  a  defender  of  the  common  soil,  and  the  right 
to  unite  the  Italians  into  a  large  confederation.  This 
confederation,  under  the  Roman  leadership,  was  the 
mighty  state  which  in  the  succeeding  generations  over- 
threw Carthage,  the  kingdoms  of  Macedon  and  Syria, 
the  commonwealths  of  Greece,  the  barbarians  of  north- 
ern Italy  and  Spain,  and  which  when  it  had  outgrown 
the  forms  of  federal  and  republican  institutions,  was 
changed  into  an  absolute  military  monarchy,  which 
completed  the  work  of  conquest. 


INDEX. 


CAM. 


DUU. 


ADMINISTRATION  of  justice, 
122 

Aediles,  142 
Aeneas,  32 

Aequians,  decay  of,   191 
Aequian  wars,  154 
Aetiological  myths,  71 
Agrarian  laws,  150 
Alba  Longa,  head  of  confederacy,  85 
Allia,  battle  of,  204 
Alliance  of  Romans  and  Sabines,  87 
Amulius,  32 
Ancus  Martius,  45 
Annalists,  15,  29,  30 
Antium,  159 
Anxur,  192 
Appius  Claudius,  172 
Ardea,  192 
Aricia,  192 

Assembly  of  centuries,  133 
Association  of  gentes,  7 
Asylum  of  Romulus,  34 
Athens,  embassy  to,  170 
Attus  Navius,  48;  the  augur,  89 
Augurs,  124 

Auspices,  102;  formality  of,  124  ;  used 
for  p  jlitical  purposes,  125 


BEAUFORT, 
Bolae,  192 
Brennus,  208 
Brutus,  58,61 


CAERE,  201 
Camillus,  207;  criticism  of  his- 
tory  of,  210;   military  reforms  of. 


Canuleian  law,  178 

Capena,  201 

Capitol,  defence  of  the,  206 

Censorship,    183  ;     of  morals,    187  ; 

limited,  188 
Centuriate  assembly,  52 
Chronicles,  family,  28 
Chronological  impossibilities,  68 
Cincinnatus,  159,  183 
Cincius  Alimentus,  15 
Claudian  family,  168 
Clients,  115 
Cloaca  maxima,  49 
Cloelia,  64 

Clusium,  siege  of,  203 
Comitia    centuriata,    133  ;    military 

character  of,  133 
Comitia    curiata,  origin   of  the,  134, 

138  ;  superseded,  132 
Comitia  iributa,  1x3,  146,  177 
Consular  office,  117;  duties  of,  121 
Coriolanus,  155 
Cornelius  Cossus,  193 
Cossus,  Cornelius,  193 
Credulity  of  the  old  historians,  10 
Cremera,  Roman  fort  on  the,  163 
Curiae,  assembly  of,  112 
Curtian  lake,  36,  73 
Curtius,  36 

DECEMVIRS,  169 
Delphi,    oracle   of,  consulted, 
58 
Delphian  Apollo,  200, 
Descent  of  Roman  people,  4 
Dictator,  106 

Dictatorship,  118  ;   origin  of,  119 
Divination,   loi 
Duumviri  perduellionis,  105 

215 


2l6 


Index. 


KIN. 

EPIC  poems  wanting  in  Rome,  93 
Epic  poetry  of  Greece,  92 
Etruscan  dominion  in  Latium,  89 
Etruscan  war,  162 
Etruscans,  decline  of,  202 
Evidence,  contemporary,  13 ;  second- 
hand, 14 
Extent  of  Roman  empire,  i 


FABII,  before  Clusium,  203;  dis- 
aster of  the,  163 
Fabius,  Pictor,  15 
Falerii,  201 
Family  portraits,  27 
Family,  Roman,  25 
Faustulus,  32 
Fiction,  19 
Fidenae,  193 

Financial  duties  of  the  censors,  188 
Funerals,  27 
Funeral  orations,  27 


GABII,  56 
Gauls,  195;  migration   of  the, 
202  ;  destruction  of  Rome  by  the, 
209 
Geographical  situation  of  Rome,  4,  6 
Gibbon,  II 


HIERARCHIAL    character    of 
civil  cimmunities,  95 
Horatii  and  Curiatii,  43 
Horatius  Codes,  63 
Hostus  Hostilius,  35 


TMPERIUM,  119  , 

L      Inauguration  of  the  king,  105  j 

Intercession,  right  of,  118,  141  j 

Intermarriage  between  patricians  and  ] 

plebeians,  174,  178  I 

Interreges,  105  I 
Interregnum,  38,  no 


TUPITER  Capitolinus,  temple  of, 
J      48 

Jurisdiction,  public  and  private,  122 
Jus  auxilii  of  tribunes,  142,  144 


KING  of  Sacrifices ,  rex  sacrorur 
lowered  in  authority,  123 
King,  sacerdotal,  104 


POE. 

LABICI,  192 
Larentia,  33 
Lars  Tolumnius,  193 
Latin  war,  65,  83 
Laudations,  28 
Law,  influence  of  Rome,  2 
Laws  of  kings,  24 
Laws,  origin   of,    70;  of  the   twelve 

tables,  169 
League  with  the  Latins   and  Herni- 

cans,  150 
Legends  of  kings,  31 
Lewis,  Sir  G.  C,  12 
Lex  curiata,  119 
Lex  curiata  de  imperio,  113 
Lex  Sacrata,  141 
Lucretia,  58 


jV/r AGISTER    Populi,   106,    no, 

Maniius,  defence  of  the  capital,  207 

Master  of  the  horse,  120 

Mettius  Fufetius,  44 

Military  monarchy  in  Rome,  90 ;  pay, 

196;  tribunes,    189;  tribunes  with 

consular  power,  179 
Mons  sacer,  141 
Montesquieu,  n 
Monuments,  public,  25 
Mucius  Scaevola,  63 
Mythology,  adoption  of  the  Greek, 

97 

NEPETE,  200 
Niebuhr,  II 
Numa  and  Ancus  identified,  78 
Numa  Martius,  40 
Numa  Pompilius,  38 
Numitor,  32 


o 


ATHS,  143 
Ostia,  46 


PATRES,  109;  conscriptf,  129 
Patricians,    112;    influence    of, 

on   elections,    181  ;    predominance 

of,  136 
Patrum  auctoritas,  no 
Pecunia,  149 

People  in  the  regal  period,  in 
Plebeians,  112  ;   rights  of,  114 
Plebeian  senators,  127 
Plebs,^  origin  of,  115 
Poems,  historical,  16,  18 


Index. 


217 


SAC. 


VOL. 


Pontiffs,  100,  107;  interpreters  of  di- 
vine and  human  law,  123  ;  guar- 
dians of  science  and  learning,  194 

Pontifical    annals,  22;  burning  of,  23 

Pontius  Cominius,  207 

Poplicola,  120 

Porcius  Cato,  15 

Porsenna,  62,  81 

Porta  Carmentalis,  164 

Praeneste,  190 

Praetor  maximus,  106,  119 

Praetors,   117 

Priests,  100 ;  kings  of  Rome,  88  ;  pub- 
lic servants,  122 

Public  documents,  23 

Public  land,  149 

Publilian  law,  165 

QUAESTORES  Parricidii,  105 
Quaestors  elected  by  the  peo- 
ple, 176;  doubled  in  number,  188 
Quirinus,  40 

RAPE  of  the  Sabines,  34,  72 
Rationalistic  explanation  of  fa- 
bles, 66 

Relics,  legendary,  24 

Religion,  age  of,  71,  88  ;  as  a  legal 
system,  99  ;  meaning  of  the  word, 
99;  of  the  Romans,  96,  98;  purely 
national,  95 

Religious  institutions,  great  antiquity 
of,  94,  95 

Rex  sacrorum,  108 

Rhea  Silvia,  32 

Roman  armies,  196 

Rome,  a  Latin  settlement,  85;  de- 
struction of  by  the  Gauls,  209 

Romulus,  legend  of,  75 

Romulus  and  Remus,  legend  of,  33 

Romulus  and  Tarquinius  identified, 
78 

Romulus  and  Tullus  identified,  77 


ABINES,  invasion  of,  86 
I     Sacerdoul  king  superseded. 


of,    141 ;    of  the 


I  Sacred  law,  142 
I  Satricum,  200 
Secession,    causes 

plebs,  140 
Senate,    a    consultative    body,    127; 
character  and  stability  of,  131  ;  of 
the  regal  period,   108  ;   purely  pa- 
trician, 129 ;  not   a  representative 
assembly,  130 
I  Senators  added  by  Brutus,  127;  mode 
{      of  electing,  131;  number  of,  127 
Servian  constitution,  origin  of,  79 
Servilius  Ahala,  183 
1  Servius  Tullius,  78 
;  Sibylline  books,  57 
I  Spolia  opima,  193 
I  Spurius  Cassius,  150,  153 
j  Spurius  Maelius,  182 


TANAQUIL,  46 
Tarpeia,  35 
I  Tarquinii,  201 
;  Tarquinius  Priscus,  47 
I  Tarquinius,  reforms  of,  48 
1  Tarquinius  Superbus,  55 
[  Terentilian  rogations,  167 
'  Titus  Tatius,  36 
i  Tradition,  14,  19,  30 
!  Tribes,  local,  145  ;  old  patricians,  37 
I  Tribunes,  antiquity  of,  143;  election 
of,    144:  number    of,    144;  of  the 


Tribute  of  war  tax,  146 
Tullus  Hostilius,  41 


VALERIAN  laws,  120 
Valerius,  120 
Veil,  194  ;  siege  of,  197  ,  capture  of, 

197 
Vesta,  40 
Vico,  II 
Virginia,  173 
Volscians,  decay  of,  191 
Volscian  Wars,  154 


''  The  volumes  contain  the  ripe  results  of  the  studies  of  men  who 
are  authorities  in  their  respective  fields ." — The  Nation. 

EPOCHS  OF  HISTORY 


EPOCHS  OF 
ANCIENT    HISTORY 

Eleven  volumes,   i6mo, 
each  $i,oo. 


EPOCHS  OF 
MODERN    HISTORY 

Eighteen  volumes,  i6mo, 
each  $i.oo. 


The  Epoch  volumes  have  most  successfully  borne  the  test  of 
experience,  and  are  universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  best  series 
of  historical  manuals  in  existence.  They  are  admirably  adapted  in 
form  and  matter  to  the  needs  of  colleges,  schools,  reading  circles, 
and  private  classes.  Attention  is  called  to  them  as  givmg  the 
utmost  satisfaction  as  class  hand-books. 


Noah  Porter,  President  of  Yale  College. 
"The  *  Epochs  of  History'  have  been  prepared  with  knowl- 
edge and  artistic  skill  to  meet  the  wants  of  a  large  number  of 
readers.  To  the  young  they  furnish  an  outline  or  compendium. 
To  those  who  are  older  they  present  a  convenient  sketch  of  the 
heads  of  the  knowledge  which  they  have  already  acquired.  The 
outlines  are  by  no  means  destitute  of  spirit,  and  may  be  used  with 
great  profit  for  family  reading,  and  in  select  classes  or  reading  clubs. " 

Charles  Kendall  Adams,  Preside?it  of  Cornell  University. 
"A  series  of  concise  and  carefully  prepared  volumes  on  special 
eras  of  history.  Each  is  also  complete  in  itself,  and  has  no  especial 
connection  with  the  other  members  of  the  series.  The  works  are 
all  written  by  authors  selected  by  the  editor  on  account  of  some 
especial  qualifications  for  a  portrayal  of  the  period  they  respectively 
describe.  The  volumes  form  an  excellent  collection,  especially 
adapted  to  the  wants  of  a  general  reader." 

The  Publishers  will  supply  these  volumes  to  teachers  at  SPECIAL 

NE  T  RA  TES,  and  would  solicit  correspondence  concerning 

terms  for  examination  and  introduction  copies. 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S   SONS,    Publishers 

153-157  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


THE    GREAT    SUCCESS    OF 
THE    SERIES 


is  the  best  proof  of  its  general  popularity,  and  the  excellence  of 
the  various  volumes  is  further  attested  by  their  having  been 
adopted  as  text-books  in  many  of  our  leading  educational  institu- 
tions. The  publishers  beg  to  call  attention  to  the  following  list 
comprising  some  of  the  most  prominent  institutions  using  volumes 
of  the  series  : 


Smith  College,  Northampton,  Mass. 
Univ.  of  Vermont,  Burlington,  Vt. 
Yale  Univ.,  New  Haven,  Conn. 
Harvard  Univ.,  Cambridge,  Mass, 
Bellewood  Sem.,  Anchorage,  Ky. 
Vanderbilt  Univ.,  Nashville,  Tenn. 
State  Univ.,  Minneapolis,  Minn. 
Christian  Coll.,  Columbia,  Mo. 
Adelphi  Acad.,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 
Earlham  Coll.,  Richmond,  Ind. 
Granger  Place  School,  Canandaigua, 

N.  Y. 
Salt  Lake  Acad., Salt  Lake  City,  Utah. 
Beloit  Col.,  Beloit.  Wis. 
Logan  Female  Coll.,  Russellville,  Ky. 
No.  West  Univ.,  Evanston,  111. 
State  Normal  School,  Baltimore,  Md. 
Hamilton  Coll.,  Clinton,  N.  Y. 
Doane  Coll.,  Crete,  Neb. 
Princeton  College,  Princeton,  N.J. 
Williams  Coll.,  Williamstown,  Mass. 
Cornell  Univ.,  Ithaca,  N.  Y. 
Illinois  Coll.,  Jacksonville,  111. 


Univ.  of  South,  Sewaunee,  Tenn. 
Wesleyan  Univ.,  Mt.  Pleasant,  la. 
Univ.  of  Cal.,  Berkeley,  Cal. 
So.  Car.  Coll.,  Columbia,  S.  C. 
Amsterdam       Acad,,       Amsterdam, 

N.  Y. 
Carleton  Coll.,  Northfield,  Minn. 
Wesleyan  Univ.,  Middletown,  Mass. 
Albion  Coll.,  Albion,  Mich. 
Dartmouth  Coll.,  Hanover,  N.  H. 
Wilmington  Coll.,  Wilmington,  O. 
Madison  Univ.,  Hamilton,  N.  Y. 
Syracuse  Univ.,  Syracuse,  N.  Y. 
Univ.  of  Wis.,  Madison,  Wis, 
Union  Coll..  Schenectady,  N.  Y. 
Norwich  Free  Acad.,  Norwich,  Conn. 
Greenwich  Acad.,  Greenwich,  Conn. 
Univ.  of  Neb.,  Lincoln,  Neb. 
Kalamazoo  Coll.,  Kalamazoo,  Mich. 
Olivet  Coll.,  Olivet,  Mich. 
Amherst  Coll.,  Amherst,  Mass. 
Ohio  State  Univ.,  Columbus,  O. 
Free  Schools,  Oswego,  N.  Y. 


Bishop  J.  F,  Hurst,  ex- President  of  Drezu  Theol.  Sem. 
"  It  appears  to  me  that  the  idea  of  Morris  in  his  Epochs  is 
strictly  in  harmony  with  the  philosophy  of  history — namely,  that 
great  movements  should  be  treated  not  according  to  narrow 
geographical  and  national  limits  and  distinction,  but  universally, 
according  to  their  place  in  the  general  life  of  the  world.  The 
historical  Maps  and  the  copious  Indices  are  welcome  additions 
to  the  volumes." 


EPOCHS    OF    ANCIENT 
HISTORY. 

A    SERIES    OF    BOOKS  NARRATING    THE    HISTORY   OF 

GREECE  AND  ROME,  AND  OF  THEIR  RELATIONS  TO 

OTHER    COUNTRIES  AT  SUCCESSIVE  EPOCHS. 

Edited  by 

Rev.  G.  W.  Cox  and  Charles  Sankey,  M.A. 

Eleven  volumes,  i6mo,  with  41  Maps  and  Plans, 

Sold  separately.     Price  per  vol.,  $1.00. 

The  Set,  Roxburgh  style,  gilt  top,  in  box,  $11.00. 


TROY— ITS     LEGEND,      HISTORY,     AND 
LITERATURE.     By  S.  G.  W.  Benjamin. 

"The  task  of  the  author  has  been  to  gather  into  a  clear 
and  very  readable  narrative  all  that  is  known  of  legendary, 
historical,  and  geographical  Troy,  and  to  tell  the  story  of 
Homer,  and  weigh  and  compare  the  different  theories  in  the 
Homeric  controversy.  The  work  is  well  done.  His  book  is 
altogether  candid,  and  is  a  very  valuable  and  entertaining 
compendium." — Hartford  Courant. 

"As  a  monograph  on  Troy,  covering  all  sides  of  the  ques- 
tion, it  is  of  great  value,  and  supplies  a  long  vacant  place  in 
our  fund  of  classical  knowledge."— A^.  Y.  Christian  Advocate. 

THE    GREEKS    AND    THE     PERSIANS.      By 

Rev  G.  W.  Cox. 

"It  covers  the  ground  in  a  perfectly  satisfactory  wav. 
The  work  is  clear,  succinct,  and  readable." — New  York 
Independent. 

"  Marked  by  thorough  and  comprehensive  scholarship  and 
by  a  skillful  style." — Congregationalist. 

"It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  creditable  book.  The 
author's  prefatory  remarks  upon  the  origin  and  growth  of 
Greek  civilization  are  alone  worth  the  price  of  the  volume.' 
— Christian  Union, 


EPOCHS   OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY 

THE  ATHENIAN  EMPIRE— From  the  Flight 
of  Xerxes  to  the  Fall  of  Athens.  By  Rev. 
G.  W.  Cox. 

**  Mr.  Cox  writes  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  before  the 
reader  everything  which  is  important  to  be  known  or  learned ; 
and  his  narrative  cannot  fail  to  give  a  good  idea  of  the  men 
and  deeds  with  which  he  is  concerned." — The  Churchman. 

"Mr.  Cox  has  done  his  work  with  the  honesty  of  a  true 
student.  It  shows  persevering  scholarship  and  a  desire  to 
get  at  the  truth." — New  York  Herald. 

THE  SPARTAN  AND  THEBAN  SUPREMA- 
CIES.    By  Charles  Sankey,  M.A. 

**  This  volume  covers  the  period  between  the  disasters  of 
Athens  at  the  close  of  the  Pelopenesian  war  and  the  rise  of 
Macedon.  It  is  a  very  striking  and  instructive  picture  of  the 
political  life  of  the  Grecian  commonwealth  at  that  time." — 
The  Churchman. 

"It  is  singularly  interesting  to  read,  and  in  respect  to 
arrangement,  maps,  etc.,  is  all  that  can  be  desired." — Boston 
Congregationalist. 

THE  MACEDONIAN  EMPIRE— Its  Rise  and 
Culmination  to  Death  of  Alexander  the 
Great.    By  A.  M.  Curteis,  M.A. 

"A  good  and  satisfactory  history  of  a  very  important  period. 
The  maps  are  excellent,  and  the  story  is  lucidly  and  vigor- 
ously told." — The  Nation. 

"  The  same  compressive  style  and  yet  completeness  of 
detail  that  have  characterized  the  previous  issues  in  this 
delightful  series,  are  found  in  this  volume.  Certainly  the  art 
of  conciseness  in  writing  was  never  carried  to  a  higher  or 
more  effective  point." — Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

^*4(.  The  above  Jive  wiumes  give  a  connected  and  complete 
history  of  Greece  from  the  earliest  times  to  the  death  of 
Alexander. 


EPOCHS  OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY 

EARLY  ROME— From  the   Foundation  of  the 
City  to  its   Destruction   by  the   Gauls.    By 

W.   IHNE,  Ph.D. 

"  Those  who  want  to  know  the  truth  instead  of  the  tra- 
ditions that  used  to  be  learned  of  our  fathers,  will  find  in  'ie 
work  entertainment,  careful  scholarship,  and  sound  sense/  -  - 
Cincinnati  Times. 

"  The  book  is  excellently  well  done.  The  views  are  those 
of  a  learned  and  able  man,  and  they  are  presented  in  this 
volume  with  great  force  and  clearness." — TAe  Nation. 

ROME  AND  CARTHAGE— The    Punic  Wars. 

By  R.  BoswoRTH  Smith. 

"  By  blending  the  account  of  Rome  and  Carthage  the  ac- 
complished author  presents  a  succinct  and  vivid  picture  of 
two  great  cities  and  people  which  leaves  a  deep  impression. 
The  story  is  full  of  intrinsic  interest,  and  was  never  better 
told. " —  Christian  Union. 

*'  The  volume  is  one  of  rare  interest  and  value." — Chicago 
Interior. 

"An  admirably  condensed  history  of  Carthage,  from  its 
establishment  by  the  adventurous  Phoenician  traders  to  its 
sad  and  disastrous  fall." — New  York  Herald. 

THE  GRACCHI,   MARIUS,  AND  SULLA.    By 

A.  H.  Beesley. 

"  A  concise  and  scholarly  historical  sketch,  descriptive  of 
the  decay  of  the  Roman  Republic,  and  the  events  which  paved 
the  way  for  the  advent  of  the  conquering  Caesar.  It  is  an 
excellent  account  of  the  leaders  and  legislation  of  the  repub- 
lic."— Boston  Post. 

"It  is  prepared  in  succinct  but  comprehfc^!;ive  style,  and  is 
an  excellent  book  for  reading  and  reference." — New  York 
Observer. 

"  No  better  condensed  account  of  the  two  Gracchi  and  the 
turbulent  careers  of  Marius  and  Sulla  has  yet  appeared." — 
A'ew  York  Independent. 


EPOCHS  OF  ANCIENT  HISTORY 

THE  ROMAN  TRIUMVIRATES.  By  the  Very  Rev. 
Charles  Merivale,  D.D. 

"  In  brevity,  clear  and  scholarly  treatment  of  the  subject, 
and  the  convenience  of  map,  index,  and  side  notes,  the 
volume  is  a  model." — New  York    I'ribune. 

"An  admirable  presentation,  and  in  style  vigorous  and 
picturesque." — Hartford  Courani. 

THE  EARLY  EMPIRE— From  the  Assassina- 
tion of  Julius  Caesar  to  the  Assassination 
of  Domitian.     By  Rev.  W.  Wolfe  Capes,  M.A. 

"  It  is  written  with  great  clearness  and  simplicity  of  style, 
and  is  as  attractive  an  account  as  has  ever  been  given  in 
brief  of  one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  of  Roman 
History." — Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

"It  is  a  clear,  well-proportioned,  and  trustworthy  perfor- 
mance, and  well  deserves  to  be  studied." — Christian  at 
Work, 

THE  AGE  OF  THE  ANTONINES-The  Roman 
Empire  of  the  Second  Century.  By  Rev. 
W.  Wolfe  Capes,  M.A. 

*'  The  Roman  Empire  during  the  second  century  is  the 
broad  subject  discussed  in  this  book,  and  discussed  with 
learning  and  intelligence." — New  York  Independefit. 

"  The  writer's  diction  is  clear  and  elegant,  and  his  narra- 
tion is  free  from  any  touch  of  pedantry.  In  the  treatment  of 
its  prolific  and  interesting  theme,  and  in  its  general  plan,  the 
book  is  a  model  of  works  of  its  class." — New  York  Herald. 

"  We  are  glad  to  commend  it.  It  is  written  clearly,  and 
with  care  and  accuracy.  It  is  also  in  such  neat  and  compact 
form  as  to  be  the  more  attractive." — Congregationalist. 

*:^  The  above  six  volumes  give  the  History  of  Rome  from 
the  founding  of  the  City  to  the  death  of  Marcus  Aurelius 
Antoninus. 


EPOCHS    OF    MODERN 
HISTORY. 

A   SERIES    OF  BOOKS  NARRATING    THE  HISTORY   OF 
ENGLAND  AND  EUROPE  AT  SUCCESSIVE  EPOCHS 
^         SUBSEQUENT  TO  THE  CHRISTIAN  ERA. 
Edited  by 

Edward  E.  Morris. 

Eighteen  volumes,  i6mo,  with  74  Maps,  Plans,  and  Tables. 

Sold  separately.     Price  per  vol.,  $1.00. 

The  Set,  Roxburgh  style,  gilt  top,  in  box,  $18.00. 

THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  MIDDLE  AGES- 
Engfand  and  Europe  in  the  Ninth  Century. 

By  the  Very  Rev,  R.  W.  Church,  M,A. 

-A  remarkably  thoughtful  and  satisfactory  d.scusston  of 
.he  causes  and  results  of  the  vast  changes  whtch  catne  upon 
Europe  during  the  period  discussed.  The  book  ts  adapted  to 
be  exceedingly  serviceable.  "-CT'V".'"  Standard. 

•Ttlce  readable  and  valuable.  It  is  comprehens.ve  and 
yet  gives  the  details  of  a  period  most  interesting  to  tne  student 
oiVeXa-ri:'— Herald  and  Presbyter. 

..Uiswrkten  with  a  clearness  and  vividness  of  statemen 
which  make  it  the  pleasantest  reading.     It  -?«-"'=  ^^^f^ 
deal  of  patient   research,  and  is  careful  and  scholarly,  - 
Boston  Journal. 

THF    NORMANS    IN    EUROPE-The    Feudal 
^"lyst^m   and    England  under  the   Norman 
Kings.     Bv  Rev.  A.  H.  Johnson,  M.A. 

"  Its  pictures  of  the  Normans  in  their  home,  of  the  Scan 
dinavian    exodus,    the   conquest   of   Engl-d     and   N^^^^^^^^^^^ 
administration,  are  full  of  vigor  and  cannot  fail  of  holdmg  the 
reader's  attention.''-^^-^^^/^/^^.?-'^^^^-  .      ^    ,      „ ,  .  ^ 

"  The  style  of  the  author  is  vigorous  and  animated,  and  he 
has  dven  a  valuable  sketch  of  the  origin  and  Progress  of  the 
g'at  Northern  movement  that  has  shaped  the  history  of 
modern  Europe.  "-i^^^^'^«  Transcript. 


EPOCHS  OF  MODER.V  HISTORY 

THE    CRUSADES.     By  Rev.  G.  W.  Cox. 

"  To  be  warmly  commended  for  important  qualities.  The 
author  shows  conscientious  fidelity  to  the  materials,  and  such 
skill  in  the  use  of  them,  that,  as  a  result,  the  reader  has 
before  him  a  narrative  related  in  a  style  that  makes  it  truly 
fascinating. ' ' —  Congregationalist. 

"  It  is  written  in  a  pure  and  flowing  style,  and  its  arrange- 
ment and  treatment  of  subject  are  exceptional." — Christian 
Intelligencer. 

THE  EARLY  P  L  A  N  T  AG  EN  ETS— Their 
Relation  to  the  History  of  Europe;  The 
Foundation  and  Growth  of  Constitutional 
Government.    By  Rev.  W.  Stubbs,  M.A. 

"Nothing  could  be  desired  more  clear,  succinct,  and  well 
arranged.  All  parts  of  the  book  are  well  done.  It  may  be 
pronounced  the  best  existing  brief  history  of  the  constitution 
for  this,  its  most  important  period." — The  Nation. 

"Prof.  Stubbs  has  presented  leading  events  with  such  fair- 
ness and  wisdom  as  are  seldom  found.  He  is  remarkably 
clear  and  satisfactory." — The  Churchman. 

EDWARD    III.     By  Rev.  W.  Warburton,  M.A. 

"  The  author  has  done  his  work  well,  and  we  commend  it 
as  containing  in  small  space  all  essential  matter." — A'ew  York 
Independent. 

"  Events  and  movements  are  admirably  condensed  by  the 
author,  and  presented  in  such  attractive  form  as  to  entertain 
as  well  as  instruct." — Chicago  Interior. 

THE  HOUSES  OF  LANCASTER  AND  YORK 
—The  Conquest  and   Loss  of  France.     By 

James  Gairdner. 

"  Prepared  in  a  most  careful  and  thorough  manner,  and 
ought  to  be  read  by  every  student." — New  York  Tifnes. 

"It  leaves  nothing  to  be  desired  as  regards  compactness, 
accuracy,  and  excellence  of  literary  execution." — Boston 
Journal. 


EPOCHS  OF  MODERN  HISTORY 

THE  ERA  OF  THE  PROTESTANT  REVO- 
LUTION. By  Frederic  Seebohm.  With  Notes,  on 
Books  in  English  relating  to  the  Reformation,  by  Prof. 
George  P.  Fisher,  D.D. 

"For  an  impartial  record  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
changes  about  four  hundred  years  ago,  we  cannot  commend  a 
better  manual." — Sunday- School  Times. 

"All  that  could  be  desired,  as  well  in  execution  as  in  plan. 
•The  narrative  is  animated,  and  the  selection  and  grouping  of 
events  skillful  and  effective." — The  Nation. 

THE  EARLY  TUDORS-Henry  VII.,  Henry 
VIII.  By  Rev.  C.  E.  Moberley,  M.A.,  late  Master  in 
Rugby  School. 

"Is  concise,  scholarly,  and  accurate.  On  the  epoch  of  which 
it  treats,  we  know  of  no  work  which  equals  it." — N.  V.  Observer. 

"  A  marvel  of  clear  and  succinct  brevity  and  good  historical 
judgment.  There  is  hardly  a  better  book  of  its  kind  to  be 
named." — New  York  Independent. 

THE  AGE  OF  ELIZABETH.  By  Rev.  M. 
Creighton,  M.A. 

"  Clear  and  compact  in  style  ;  careful  in  their  facts,  and 
just  in  interpretation  of  them.  It  sheds  much  light  on  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  and  the  origin  of  the  Popish 
reaction  during  Queen  Elizabeth's  reign  ;  also,  the  relation  of 
Jesuitism  to  the  latter." — Presbyterian  Review. 

"  A  clear,  concise,  and  just  story  of  an  era  crowded  with 
events  of  interest  and  importance." — New  Ycrk  World. 

THE    THIRTY    YEARS'     WAR— 161 8-1 648. 

By  Samuel  Rawson  Gardiner. 

"  As  a  manual  it  will  prove  of  the  greatest  practical  value, 
while  to  the  general  reader  it  will  afford  a  clear  and  interesting 
account  of  events.  We  know  of  no  more  spirited  and  attractive 
recital  of  the  great  era." — Boston  Saturday  Evening  Gazette. 

"  The  thrilling  story  of  those  times  has  never  been  told  so 
vividly  or  succinctly  as  in  this  volume." — Episcopal  Register. 


EPOCHS  OF  MODER.V  III  STORY. 

THE  PURITAN  REVOLUTION;  and  the  First 
Two  Stuarts,  1  603-  1  660.  By  Samuel  RaVson 
Gardiner. 

"  The  narrative  is  condensed  and  brief,  yet  sufficiently  com- 
prehensive to  give  an  adequate  view  of  the  events  related." 
— Chicago  Standard. 

"Mr.  Gardiner  uses  his  researches  in  an  admirably  clear 
and  fair  way  " — Congregaiionalist. 

* '  The  sketch  is  concise,  but  clear  and  perfectly  intelligible." 
— HartfoTd  Courant. 

THE  ENGLISH  RESTORATION  AND  LOUIS 
XIV.,  from  the  Peace  of  Westphalia  to  the 
Peace  of  Nimwegen.     By  Osmund  Airy,  M.A. 

••  It  is  crisply  and  admirably  written.  An  immense  amount 
of  information  is  conveyed  and  with  great  clearness,  the 
arrangement  of  the  subjects  showing  great  skill  and  a  thor- 
ough command  of  the  complicated  theme." — Boston  Saturday 
Evening  Gazette. 

"The  author  writes  with  fairness  and  discrimination,  and 
has  given  a  clear  and  intelligible  presentation  of  the  time." — 
New  York  Evangelist. 

THE  FALL  OF  THE  STUARTS;  and  Western 
Europe.     By  Rev.  Edward  Hale,  M.A. 

"  A  valuable  compend  to  the  general  reader  and  scholar." 
— Providence  Journal. 

"It  will  be  found  of  great  value.     It  is  a  very  graphic 

account  of  the  history  of  Europe  during  the  17th  cerrtury, 

and  is  admirably  adapted  for  the  use  of  students." — Boston 

Saturday  Evenijig  Gazette. 

'  'An  admirable  handbook  for  the  student. " —  The  Churchman. 

THE  AGE  OF  ANNE.     By  Edward  E.  Morris,  M.A. 

"The  author's  arrangement  of  the  material  is  remarkably 
clear,  his  selection  and  adjustment  of  the  facts  judicious,  his 
historical  judgment  fair  and  candid,  while  the  style  wins  by 
its  simple  elegance." — Chicago  Standard. 

"An  excellent  compendium  of  the  history  of  an  important 
period." — The  Watchvian. 


EPOCHS  OF  MODERN  HISTORY. 

THE  EARLY  HANOVERIANS-Europe  from 
the  Peace  of  Utrecht  to  the  Peace  of  Aix- 
ia-Chapelle.     By  Edward  E.  Morris,  M.A. 

"  Masterly,  condensed,  and  vigorous,  this  is  one  of  the 
books  which  it  is  a  delight  to  read  at  odd  moments  ;  which 
are  broad  and  suggestive,  and  at  the  same  time  condensed  in 
treatment. " —  Christian  Advocate. 

"A  remarkably  clear  and  readable  summary  of  the  salient 
points  of  interest.  The  maps  and  tables,  no  less  than  the 
author's  style  and  treatment  of  the  subject,  entitle  the  volume 
to  the  highest  claims  of  recognition." — Boston  Daily  Ad- 
vertiser, 

FREDERICK  THE  GREAT,  AND  THE  SEVEN 
YEARS'  WAR.     By  F.  W.  Longman. 

"  The  subject  is  most  important,  and  the  author  has  treated 
it  in  a  way  which  is  both  scholarly  and  entertaining." — The 
Churchman. 

"Admirably  adapted  to  interest  school  boys,  and  older 
heads  will  find  it  pleasant  reading." — New  York  Tribune. 

THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION,  AND  FIRST 
EMPIRE.  By  William  O'Connor  Morris.  With 
Appendix  by  Andrew  D.  White,  LL.D.,  ex-President  of 
Cornell  University. 

"We  have  long  needed  a  simple  compendium  of  this  period, 
and  we  have  here  one  which  is  brief  enough  to  be  easily  run 
through  with,  and  yet  particular  enough  to  make  entertaining 
reading." — New  York  Evening  Post. 

"  The  author  has  well  accomplished  his  difficult  task  of 
sketching  in  miniature  the  grand  and  crowded  drama  of  tlie 
French  Revolution  and  the  Napoleonic  Empire,  showing 
himself  to  be  no  servile  compiler,  but  capable  of  judicious 
and  independent  criticism." — Springfield  Republican. 

THE  EPOCH  OF  REFORM— 1  830-1  850.  By 

Justin  McCarthy. 

"  Mr.  McCarthy  knows  the  period  of  which  he  writes 
thoroughly,  and  the  result  is  a  narrative  that  is  at  once  enter- 
taining and  trustworthy." — New  York  Examiner. 

"  The  narrative  is  clear  and  comprehensive,  and  told  with 
abundant  knowledge  and  grasp  of  the  subject." — Boston 
Courier. 


IMPORTANT  HISTORICAL 
WORKS. 

CIVILIZATION  DURING  THE  MIDDLE  AGES. 
Especially  in  its  Relation  to  Modern  Civil- 
ization. By  George  B.  Adams,  Professor  of  History  in 
Yale  University.     8vo,  ^2.50. 

Professor  Adams  has  here  supplied  the  need  of  a  text-book 
for  the  study  of  Mediaeval  History  in  college  classes  at  once 
thorough  and  yet  capable  of  being  handled  in  the  time  usually 
allowed  to  it.  He  has  aimed  to  treat  the  subject  in  a  manner 
which  its  place  in  the  college  curriculum  demands,  by  present- 
ing as  clear  a  view  as  possible  of  the  underlying  and  organic 
growth  of  our  civilization,  how  its  foundations  were  laid  and  its 
chief  elements  introduced. 

Prof.  Kendric  C.  Babcock,  University  of  Minnesota : — "It 
is  one  of  the  best  books  of  the  kind  which  I  have  seen.  We 
shall  use  it  the  coming  term." 

Prof.  Marshall  S.  Brown,  Michigan  University: — **I 
regard  the  work  as  a  very  valuable  treatment  of  the  great 
movements  of  history  during  the  Middle  Ages,  and  as  one 
destined  to  be  extremely  helpful  to  young  students." 

Boston  Herald: — "Professor  Adams  admirably  presents 
the  leading  features  of  a  thousand  years  of  social,  political, 
and  religious  development  in  the  history  of  the  world.  It  is 
valuable  from  beginning  to  end." 

HISTORY   OF  THE   UNITED  STATES.     By  E. 

Benjamin    Andrews,    D.D.,  LL.D.,    President    of    Brown 
University.     With  maps.     Two  vols. ,  crown  octavo,  $4. 00. 

Boston  Advertiser: — "We  doubt  if  there  has  been  so 
complete,  graphic,  and  so  thoroughly  impartial  a  historj'  of  oiu* 
country  condensed  into  the  same  space.  It  must  become  a 
standard. ' ' 

Advance: — "One  of  the  best  popular,  general  histories  of 
America,  if  not  the  best." 

Herald  and  Presbyter  : — "  The  very  history  that  many 
people  have  been  looking  for.  It  does  not  consist  simply  of 
minute  statements,  but  treats  of  causes  and  effects  with  philo- 
sophical grasp  and  thoughtfulness.  It  is  the  work  of  a  scholar 
and  thinker." 


IMPORTANT  HISTORICAL    WORKS. 

THE  DAWN  OF  HISTORY.  An  Introduction 
to  Pre-Historic  Study.  New  and  Enlarged  Edition. 
Edited  by  C.  F.  Keary.      i2mo,  cloth,  $1.25. 

This  work  treats  successively  of  the  earliest  traces  of  man  ; 
of  language,  its  growth,  and  the  story  it  tells  of  the  pre-his- 
toricusersof  it ;  of  early  social  life,  the  religions,  mythologies, 
and  folk-tales,  and  of  the  history  of  writing.  The  present 
edition  contains  about  one  hundred  pages  of  new  matter, 
embodying  the  results  of  the  latest  researches. 

"A  fascinating  manual.  In  its  way,  the  work  is  a  model 
of  what  a  popular  scientific  work  should  be." — Boston  Sat. 
Eve.  Gazette. 

THE  ORIGIN  OF  NATIONS.  By  Professor  George 
Rawlinson,  M.A.     i2mo,  with  maps,  $1.00. 

The  first  part  of  this  book  discusses  the  antiquity  of  civiliza- 
tion in  Egypt  and  the  other  early  nations  of  the  East.  The 
second  part  is  an  examination  of  the  ethnology  of  Genesis, 
showing  its  accordance  with  the  latest  results  of  modern 
ethnographical  science. 

"A  work  of  genuine  scholarly  excellence,  and  a  useful 
offset  to  a  great  deal  of  the  superficial  current  literature  on 
such  subjects. " —  Congregatio7ialist. 

MANUAL  OF  MYTHOLOGY.  For  the  Use 
of  Schools,  Art  Students,  and  General 
Readers.  Founded  on  the  Works  of  Pet- 
iscus,  Preller,  and  Welcker.  By  Alexander 
S.  Murray,  Department  of  Greek  and  Roman  Antiquities, 
British  Museum.  With  45  Plates.  Reprinted  from  the 
Second  Revised  London  Edition.     Crown  8vo,  $1.75. 

"  It  has  been  acknowledged  the  best  work  on  the  subject 
to  be  found  in  a  concise  form,  and  as  it  embodies  the  results 
of  the  latest  researches  and  discoveries  in  ancient  mythologies, 
it  is  superior  for  school  and  general  purposes  as  a  handbook 
to  any  of  the  so-called  standard  works." — Cleveland Heyald. 

"  Whether  as  a  manual  for  reference,  a  text-book  for  school 
use,  or  for  the  general  reader,  the  book  will  be  found  very 
valuable  and  interesting." — Boston  Journal. 


IMPORTANT  HISTORICAL   WORKS. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  ROME,  from  the  Earliest 
Time  to  tine  Period  of  Its  Decline.     By  Dr. 

THr-:oD(jR  MoMMSKN.  Translated  by  W.  P.  Dickson,  D.D., 
LL.D.  A  New  Edition,  Revised  througliout,  and  eml)odying 
recent  additions.     Five  vols.,  with  Map.     Trice  per  set,  ^lo.oo. 

"A  work  of  the  very  highest  merit  ;  its  learning  is  exact 
and  profound  ;  its  narrative  full  of  genius  and  skill ;  its 
descriptions  of  men  are  admirably  vivid." — London  Times. 

"Since  the  days  of  Niebuhr,  no  work  on  Roman  History 
has  appeared  that  combines  so  much  to  attract,  instruct,  and 
charm  the  reader.  Its  style — a  rare  quality  in  a  German 
author — is  vigorous,  spirited,  and  animated." — Dr.  Schmitz. 

THE  PROVINCES  OFTHE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. 
From  Caesar  to  Diocletian.  By  Theodor 
MoMMSEN.  Translated  by  William  P.  Dickson,  D.D,, 
LL.D.     With  maps.     Two  vols.,  8vo,  $6.00, 

"  The  author  draws  the  wonderfully  rich  and  varied  picture 
of  the  conquest  and  administration  of  that  great  circle  of 
peoples  and  lands  which  formed  the  empire  of  Rome  outside 
of  Italy,  their  agriculture,  trade,  and  manufactures,  their 
artistic  and  scientific  life,  throu*jh  all  degrees  of  civilization, 
with  such  detail  and  completeness  as  could  have  come  from 
no  other  hand  than  that  of  this  great  master  of  historical  re- 
search."— Prof,  W.  A.  Packard,  Princeton  College. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  ROMAN  REPUBLIC. 

Abridged  from  the  History  by  Professor  Theodor  Mommsen, 
by  C.  Bryans  and  F.  J.  R.  Hendy.     i2mo,  $1.75. 

"  It  is  a  genuine  boon  that  the  essential  parts  of  Mommsen's 
Rome  are  thus  brought  within  the  easy  reach  of  all,  and  the 
abridgment  seems  to  me  to  preserve  unusually  well  the  glow 
and  movement  of  the  original." — Prof.  Tracy  Peck,  Yale 
University. 

"The  condensation  has  been  accurately  and  judiciously 
effected.  I  heartily  commend  the  volume  as  the  most  adequate 
embodiment,  in  a  single  volume,  of  the  main  results  of  modern 
historical  research  in  the  field  of  Roman  affairs." — Prof. 
Henry  M.  13aird,  University  of  City  of  New  York. 


IMPORTANT  HISTORICAL    WORKS. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  GREECE.  By  Prof.  Dr. 
Ernst  Curtius.  Translated  by  Adolphus  William  Ward, 
M.A.,  Fellow  of  St.  Peter's  College,  Cambridge,  Prof,  of 
History  ixv  Owen's  College,  Manchester.  Five  volumes, 
crown  8vo.     Price  per  set,  $10.00. 

"  We  cannot  express  our  opinion  of  Dr.  Curtius'  book  bet- 
ter than  by  saying  that  it  may  be  fitly  ranked  with  Theodor 
Mommsen's  great  work." — Londoti  Spectator. 

"As  an  introduction  to  the  study  of  Grecian  history,  no 
previous  work  is  comparable  to  the  present  for  vivacity  and 
picturesque  beauty,  while  in  sound  learning  and  accuracy  of 
statement  it  is  not  inferior  to  the  elaborate  productions  which 
enrich  the  literature  of  the  age."— iV.  Y.  Daily  Iribime. 

OESAR:  a  Sketch.  By  James  Anthony  Froude, 
M.A.     i2mo,  gilt  top,  I1.50. 

"This  book  is  a  most  fascinating  biography  and  is  by  far 
the  best  account  of  Julius  Csesar  to  be  found  in  the  English 
language." — The  London  Standard. 

"He  combines  into  a  compact  and  nervous  narrative  all 
that  is  known  of  the  personal,  social,  political,  and  military 
life  of  Csesar  ;  and  with  his  sketch  of  Caesar  includes  other 
brilliant  sketches  of  the  great  man,  his  friends,  or  rivals, 
who  contemporaneously  with  him  formed  the  principal  figures 
in  the  Roman  world." — Harper  s  Monthly. 

CICERO.    Life  of  Marcus  Tullius  Cicero.    By 

William  Forsyth,  M.A.,  Q.C.  20  Engravings.  New 
Edition.     2  vols.,  crown  8vo,  in  one,  gilt  top,  $2.50. 

The  author  has  not  only  given  us  the  most  complete  and 
well-balanced  account  of  the  life  of  Cicero  ever  published  ; 
he  has  drawn  an  accurate  and  graphic  picture  of  domestic  life 
among  the  best  classes  of  the  Romans,  one  which  the  reader 
of  general  literature,  as  well  as  the  student,  may  peruse  with 
pleasure  and  profit. 

"A  scholar  without  pedantry,  and  a  Christian  without  cant, 
Mr.  Forsyth  seems  to  have  seized  with  praiseworthy  tact  the 
precise  attitude  which  it  behooves  a  biographer  to  take  when 
narrating  the  life,  the  personal  life  of  Cicero.  Mr.  Forsyth 
produces  what  we  venture  to  say  will  become  one  of  the 
classics  of  English  biographical  literature,  and  will  be  wel- 
comed by  readers  of  all  ages  and  both  sexes,  of  all  professions 
and  of  no  profession  at  dM."—Lo7tdon  Quarterly. 


STATE  NORMAL  SCHOOL, 

^^tUABLEWb-RKS  ON 
CLASSICAL    LITERATURE. 


THE    HISTORY   OF    ROMAN   LITERATURE. 
From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Death  of 

Marcus  AureliuS.  With  Chronological  Tables,  etc., 
for  the  use  of  Students.  By  C.  T.  Cruttwell,  M.A.  Crown 
8vo,  $2.50. 

Mr.  Cruttwell's  book  is  written  throughout  from  a  purely 
literary  point  of  view,  and  the  aim  has  been  to  avoid  tedious 
and  trivial  details.  The  result  is  a  volume  not  only  suited 
for  the  student,  but  remarkably  readable  for  all  who  possess 
any  interest  in  the  subject. 

"  Mr.  Cruttwell  has  given  us  a  genuine  history  of  Roman 
literature,  not  merely  a  descriptive  list  of  authors  and  their 
productions,  but  a  well  elaborated  portrayal  of  the  successive 
stages  in  the  intellectual  development  of  the  Romans  and  the 
various  forms  of  expression  which  these  took  in  literature." — 
N.   V.  A'ation. 


UNIFORM    WITH   THE   ABOVE. 

HISTORY    OF    GREEK    LITERATURE. 
From  the  Earliest  Period  of  Demosthenes. 

By  Frank  Byron  Jevons,  M.A.,  Tutor  in  the  University 
of  Durham.     Crown  8vo,  $2.50. 

The  author  goes  into  detail  with  sufficient  fullness  to  make 
the  history  complete,  but  he  never  loses  sight  of  the  com- 
manding lines  along  which  the  Greek  mind  moved,  and  a 
clear  understanding  of  which  is  necessary  to  every  intelligent 
student  of  universal  literature. 

"It  is  beyond  all  question  the  best  history  of  Greek  litera- 
ture that  has  hitherto  been  published." — London  Spectator. 


CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS, 

X53-157  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


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